88Nightmare
06-08-2008, 01:13 PM
Its located in either my backyard or my basement. I get home yesterday, relax for a few minutes, take a shower, then go to head into the basement. I take two steps down the stairs and stop.... noticing water at the bottom of the basement. I start freakin, we've been livin here for 10 years and NEVER had water in the basement. I suppose there is a first time for everything. Our brand new sump pump was kickin ass without missin a beat, but the problem was coming from one of the windows. Our basement windows have those recessed wells around them. One of them filled with water, and the weight of the water was forcing the corners of the window open, causing water to just gush in. Luckily I wasnt the only one home. I had my mother hold a bucket underneith the window to catch the water, and I ransacked my garage to find a small electric watergarden pump. I jammed the garden hose into it, dropped it in the window well and plugged it in. It drained in about 15 minutes, but then would frequently fill back up. After getting it drained, I took my drill and screwed the window shut. It stopped leaking. I kept having to go back out and get the pump going to drain that window well, but for the most part, it was working. When I had it under control, I ran to home depot and bought sandbags to surround the top of the well, and then bought a DC backup pump system for my sump pump well incase the power went out. So I thought everything was all safe, ready for any amount of rain.
So I go to work today, and around 11ish, it starts downpouring at work. Kinda nice, hot inside and nice and cool outside. Could run outside for a quick second to cool down. Carrying on my business, my mother calls, says the window is leaking again, bad. She said at this point she was concerned with stopping the water from reaching the other side of the basement, the part thats finished off (drywall, carpet, wood trim....etc). I was picturing the worst. After spending so much to finish off that section of basement, I didn't want my work done on it to be in vein, so I flew home, to find the same window leaking inbetweem the wood trim and the concrete block. So back to pumping the well out. Then I took my mini propane torch, dried out the area with some heat, and caulked the **** out of it with some waterproof sealant I found at home depot. So far so good, we are just working on containing and removing the water.
So.... anyone have any recommendations of what else I can do to stop this window from leaking right now if something else should happen? I know the window should be replaced, or better yet, just glass block the damn thing. I know the backyard should be regraded and a underground drainage basin put in to protect the house as we are at the bottom of a hill, but what else can I do now to protect the basement?
So I go to work today, and around 11ish, it starts downpouring at work. Kinda nice, hot inside and nice and cool outside. Could run outside for a quick second to cool down. Carrying on my business, my mother calls, says the window is leaking again, bad. She said at this point she was concerned with stopping the water from reaching the other side of the basement, the part thats finished off (drywall, carpet, wood trim....etc). I was picturing the worst. After spending so much to finish off that section of basement, I didn't want my work done on it to be in vein, so I flew home, to find the same window leaking inbetweem the wood trim and the concrete block. So back to pumping the well out. Then I took my mini propane torch, dried out the area with some heat, and caulked the **** out of it with some waterproof sealant I found at home depot. So far so good, we are just working on containing and removing the water.
So.... anyone have any recommendations of what else I can do to stop this window from leaking right now if something else should happen? I know the window should be replaced, or better yet, just glass block the damn thing. I know the backyard should be regraded and a underground drainage basin put in to protect the house as we are at the bottom of a hill, but what else can I do now to protect the basement?