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http://www.AsktheBuilder.com founder, Tim Carter, discusses how to fix wet basements
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0:00
about how to fix a wet basement I did
0:04
a survey several weeks ago of my
0:08
newsletter list asking the subscribers
0:11
you know what they would like me to talk
0:12
about and it just so happens I have a
0:15
consult coming up I do a lot of uh
0:18
consults over the phone I do some in
0:21
person here locally and this person has
0:26
got a wet basement many people thousands
0:28
tens of thousands of people do
0:30
and they want to know how to fix them
0:32
you know what's the what's the best way
0:34
to fix a wet basement all right
0:37
so one of the things I bring to the
0:39
table uh is that uh and I know with
0:42
these
0:43
live vertical videos it's very hard for
0:46
me to to show you stuff I'm sorry I'm
0:49
just a talking head uh but that's pretty
0:52
much all I can do uh I don't have a we
0:55
don't have a $100,000 video Studio to do
0:59
these in I'm just using the YouTube app
1:01
all right so anyway the wet
1:04
basements the first thing you need to
1:06
understand is my college degree is in
1:09
geology uh I uh studied geology and it
1:13
just so happens one of the areas that I
1:15
focused on was hydrogeology and
1:19
hydrogeology is simply the study of
1:22
groundwater and using this knowledge
1:25
that I got in college I was able to
1:27
understand how to build build houses so
1:31
that the basements would never be wet
1:34
you know how to make sure water never
1:35
got in the basement so first of all the
1:38
first thing to think about
1:40
is understand that a basement really all
1:43
it is it's really not much different
1:45
than your um local uh outdoor public
1:49
swimming pool right I mean the only
1:51
difference is is that it's got a
1:53
building on top of it so a
1:56
basement um if you plugged up the Flor
1:59
drain and you put a fire hose in it um
2:02
you'd have a swimming pool all right so
2:04
so you're you're constantly battling uh
2:07
that that uh that water Brian how you
2:10
doing hey Jason how you doing good
2:13
uh am I married uh that's that's nice to
2:17
know
2:19
information I'd love the comments All
2:21
right so anyway uh basement's just it's
2:24
just a it's just a swimming pool but the
2:26
trouble is you don't want it to be a
2:27
swimming pool you want it to be dry all
2:29
right so uh the first thing to do if you
2:33
want to fix your wet basement is you
2:36
need to go outside you need to make sure
2:37
that all the water that comes off your
2:40
roof um that it gets directed far away
2:44
from the house all to often in many of
2:47
the consults that I do uh I ask people
2:50
to send me photos of the outside of the
2:52
house and I can clearly see that the
2:54
gutters and down spouts they just drop
2:57
the water and and the down spout the
2:58
water just ends up on a block right
3:00
around the house so think about when it
3:03
rains uh when you have like a standard
3:07
ranch house that might be 2,000 square
3:10
ft and you have think of the roof area
3:13
that you have if you have like a 1in
3:15
rainfall you do the math and you might
3:19
be dropping a, or500 gallons of water
3:22
around your house and so think how much
3:25
water weighs it pushes down it soaks
3:27
into the soil and it's trying to find a
3:30
way to get into your house so if you if
3:34
you eliminate roof waterer uh out of the
3:36
equation and and pipe that to the lowest
3:39
point of your lot or to your city storm
3:42
water system whatever it might be that's
3:45
going to help that's the first step the
3:47
Second Step um
3:51
uh I got to I got to answer this
3:54
question all
3:56
right for this one comment what is the
3:59
secret of happy marriage life it's so
4:02
simple it's so easy just you know just
4:07
when when your spouse says jump you need
4:10
to say how high it's really and where do
4:12
I land that's all you need to do there's
4:14
nothing about this is hard all right
4:16
just pick your battles all right you
4:18
know and and uh you keep your spouse
4:21
happy um you know the old saying right
4:24
happy wife happy life all right so
4:26
nothing about relationships hard all
4:28
right so let's get back to to White
4:30
basements I'm not a marriage
4:34
counselor anyway I I do love the
4:36
comments I I have I'm sorry just little
4:40
uh okay so we've got the roof water away
4:42
from the house now here's what you need
4:44
to know about geology so here's what
4:46
happens when it
4:48
rains um first of all understand I I
4:52
could have made a drawing about this
4:54
think about soil so if you were to dig
4:57
around your house you would the soil is
5:00
divided into profiles and we usually
5:02
call it the a b and c so the a horizon
5:05
is way up top by the grass and that's
5:07
called the top soil top soil has a lot
5:10
of air in it all right a lot of air so
5:13
that's why when it
5:14
rains uh if you if you take a garden
5:18
hose even and you get some water on the
5:20
grass it disappears it's like whoa where
5:24
did it go all right so it's soaked into
5:27
the top soil much like water would soak
5:29
into a dry sponge all right the farther
5:33
you go down into the soil generally it
5:36
becomes more compact many parts of the
5:38
United States have a clay very rich
5:42
clay both top soil and subsoil so what
5:46
do we use clay for all right if you're a
5:48
Potter you already know this all the
5:51
pots all the plates all the cups and
5:53
saucers in your home they're made out of
5:55
clay all right so Clay is a really
5:58
really interesting
6:00
mineral all right and it is it's it's
6:02
you know they call it clay minerology so
6:05
clay uh is is why ponds don't leap you
6:09
know in other words if you have a garden
6:12
pond or you have a pond out in a farm
6:15
generally it's got clay in the lining
6:18
and that's why the water does not leak
6:20
out of the pond so think about this if
6:23
you're subsoil is clay and the water
6:27
comes down and here let's just say my
6:30
hand right here is the Horizon between
6:33
the a here and the B here that is very
6:37
clay Rich the water comes down hits this
6:41
clay and it can't go any farther I mean
6:44
it's tough so what does it start to do
6:46
so if you if your ground around your
6:49
house is tilted which most ground is the
6:52
water hits this clay and it starts to
6:55
move down slope all right across the
6:59
clay
7:00
right across the top of the clay
7:04
so that means so so now I know it's a
7:07
little disjointed yeah by the way hit
7:10
the like button if you like what you're
7:12
hearing um do a comment uh uh and and
7:17
those help the algorithm all right so
7:20
think of how a gutter on a house roof
7:22
works right what does a gutter do so
7:24
here you've got a sloping surface right
7:26
just like the clay in your ground so the
7:29
rain comes down the roof and here's the
7:32
gutter right here my finger is the
7:33
gutter the water comes down the roof
7:35
runs into the gutter and now what does
7:38
the gutter do the water flows through
7:40
the gutter eventually goes to a down
7:42
spout and if you've done your job right
7:44
you've piped that water to the lowest
7:46
spot on your land well imagine if you
7:49
put a gutter in the
7:52
ground how cool is that so how easy is
7:55
that to do so I call it a linear French
7:58
drain and all you have to do is
8:00
basically dig a six inch wide maybe two
8:04
foot deep trench that's on the high side
8:07
of your property meaning if the if your
8:09
house is on a hill and the waters
8:11
remember if you've got a half a mile of
8:13
Hill above you or a quarter mile you've
8:16
got thousands of gallons of water that
8:19
are just slowly seeping through the
8:22
ground ground coming towards your
8:24
foundation so imagine if 6 feet away
8:27
from the house we dug this trm
8:30
put in some rounded gravel that's the
8:32
size of grapes or bonuts no sand in it
8:35
no sand in the gravel put in a
8:37
perforated drain pipe and ex and maybe
8:41
made that in L shape or a u shape to
8:43
surround the house and then extend those
8:46
pipes beyond the front of the house um
8:50
to where they exit at
8:52
daylight then what happens the water
8:54
comes through the soil you know comes
8:57
down the hill hits that
8:59
once we put the perforated drain pipe in
9:02
we've got to fill the trench all the way
9:03
up to the top with more gravel and take
9:05
it all the way to the top eventually
9:07
grass will grow in it you know you won't
9:08
even see it but we want that we want
9:11
that water to come down hit that gravel
9:14
drop into the pipe and then it runs
9:15
around the house remember water always
9:17
wants to take the path of Lea resistance
9:20
so it would much rather flow through the
9:22
pipe than it would to continue to push
9:25
through the ground and try to make it to
9:27
your house it doesn't want to do that so
9:29
you install one of these linear French
9:30
drains problem solved all right there's
9:33
some really bad information out here on
9:35
YouTube uh I really don't want to name
9:38
the channel by name um but he all he
9:42
talks about are these things and he's a
9:45
big advocate of putting geotextile
9:48
Fabric and he he says to line The
9:50
Trenches with it uh wrap the pipe in a
9:54
sock do not do any of that do not do any
9:56
of that you don't need it all right
9:58
here's why once again that gentleman
10:01
obviously never took a hydrogeology
10:04
class in college like I
10:06
did so have you ever thought about well
10:08
water all right so think about Wells it
10:11
could be a shallow well or it could be a
10:13
deep well like I have here at my own
10:15
home how is it that water in a well is
10:18
clear you ever thought about
10:21
that all right think about what happens
10:25
when it rains like a really big
10:26
rainstorm and let's say you have a creek
10:28
or a stream buy your home before the
10:31
storm came and I'm not talking about
10:33
rivers I'm just talking about a
10:35
stream what color is the water in the
10:39
Stream it's clear isn't it that's
10:42
interesting isn't it you know like a
10:44
brook or a stream the water's clear I
10:46
mean you could scoop it up in a glass
10:48
I'm not saying drink it it could have
10:50
bacteria in it but it's clear but when
10:53
it
10:55
rains um and there's a violent rainstorm
10:58
all of a sudden that creates Rises up
11:00
and the water is
11:01
Muddy all right where did the mud come
11:03
from why is it muddy what happens 24
11:06
hours after the storm's gone the water's
11:09
clear again so the mud where the mud
11:11
came from simple up on the surface up in
11:15
that top soil or where there's bare
11:16
ground the raindrops come down boom boom
11:18
boom they're like bullets they hit the
11:20
ground a lot of energy they they raise
11:24
up they get some of that silt and mud
11:26
and suspension and the water runs
11:29
Overland or it runs into a storm sewer
11:32
whatever and it makes it to the stream
11:34
that's why the water is Muddy but as
11:38
that water travels through the soil
11:40
right think about this the top soil
11:43
layer acts like a filter it's no
11:45
different than an air filter in your car
11:48
uh an air filter in your furnace that
11:51
filters out all of those particles
11:53
that's why W water is clear all right so
11:58
you don't need to put a geotextile
12:00
fabric uh around the trench you don't
12:03
need to put a sock on the pipe because
12:05
what those are made for think about this
12:08
those Fabrics are meant to block silt so
12:12
if if for some odd reason silt is in the
12:15
water and it clogs up that Filter Fabric
12:20
the water can't make it into the French
12:22
drain that's where that guy's all wrong
12:25
all right
12:26
um all right so uh let's see here
12:29
um I don't I'm trying to catch up on
12:32
some of these comments uh uh let's see
12:37
uh deep in sand what is it about I don't
12:39
know what that means I don't know what
12:41
that means don't know what that means
12:43
sorry uh go go eat some food if you're
12:46
hungry um all right it's all right so
12:48
there must be some B I did this solid
12:50
pipe and I could not get four feet in
12:51
the ground I have to disconnect the pipe
12:53
and dance before we yeah just you got to
12:55
get you got to get the roof water out of
12:56
the equation so here here's what you
12:59
don't want to do a lot of companies uh
13:01
talk about putting in these systems
13:04
inside where they um come in break up
13:08
part of your basement floor and they put
13:10
this pipe and drain stuff in your house
13:12
then they put a su pump in don't do that
13:14
that don't do that let's just capture
13:16
all the water outside just capture it
13:18
outside and pipe it around the house
13:20
I've in I've I've helped people install
13:22
thousands of these systems they've
13:24
worked all the time there's testimonials
13:26
on my website um I'll take tell you a
13:29
quick story about one that was locally
13:31
here I I helped this uh bre bed and
13:34
breakfast gentleman uh here in Franklin
13:36
New Hampshire about gosh I guess it's
13:39
been 12 years ago he he had an old house
13:44
uh and um there was a big big Hillside
13:47
above him
13:49
and he had so much water coming into the
13:52
basement of his house this this bed and
13:55
breakfast this is I saw it I actually
13:57
was there they had to put wood pallets
13:59
in the basement so you know how high a
14:02
wood pallet is about 4 and 1 12 in and
14:04
there would be 3 in of water flowing
14:08
through the pallets in the basement most
14:12
of the
14:13
year it's like a river coming through
14:16
this guy's basement so he did what I
14:19
said but we actually dug a bigger trench
14:21
we brought in a bigger excavator he had
14:24
enough fall across his property that he
14:27
could take the trench down below his
14:30
basement floor so his he he only had to
14:33
go down about 6 and 1/2 ft but we took
14:35
the trench down 6 and 1/2 ft went all
14:38
the way through his backyard it sloped
14:40
we put in two of the perforated pipes
14:42
filled the trench around his house with
14:45
the
14:46
gravel and the water stopped immediately
14:48
his basement has been bone dry ever
14:51
since the day we installed it so these
14:54
systems work it's really pretty simple
14:56
that's how to fix a wet basement is you
14:58
stop the water water before it gets to
15:01
the house it's that simple
15:05
um uh let's see I'm gonna give it a shot
15:09
because you know what my aunt you don't
15:11
know who my aunt was my aunt was one of
15:14
the top experts in
15:16
phonetics uh back in the United States
15:19
back in the 1960s you can actually still
15:22
see her book on Amazon the name of the
15:24
book is Professor phonic gives Sound
15:27
Advice pretty cool title right sound all
15:30
right when you talk you make a sound all
15:32
right so let's give it a try
15:35
Sayed it
15:37
be tabat let's see I would pronounce
15:41
that she would tell me to say tabitabi
15:45
tabitabi so that's gonna I'm G give it
15:47
my best shot s IBI tabitabi so that's
15:51
the best I can do might not have it
15:53
perfect gave it a good shot though all
15:55
right so that's really all I want to
15:57
talk about I'm trying to keep these live
15:58
uh a broadcast to about 15 minutes or so
16:02
uh if you have questions if you need
16:04
help about a web basement just go to my
16:07
ask the builder website I'm the ask the
16:09
Builder guy if you haven't figured that
16:11
out um go to the ask Tim Page um I've
16:14
got I can actually draw a plan for you
16:18
uh I can I can actually draw a plan of
16:20
how I would put in the pipe around your
16:22
home I provide that service so um anyway
16:26
I can help you let me know and while
16:27
you're there make sure you subscribe to
16:29
my free ask the voter newsletter and if
16:31
you've got any ideas for future uh live
16:35
broadcasts like this I'd love to hear
16:36
them um go ahead and um leave a comment
16:40
after we upload the video or leave a
16:42
comment at the stim page I'd love to
16:44
help you any way I can that's my job
16:46
that's why I'm asked the Builder right
16:48
so thanks very much for watching more
16:51
live broadcasts coming soon appreciate
16:53
it
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