Basement leaks

[mus]

The water main goes through a PVC sleeve that goes through the cinder block wall in my basement. During heavy rains, water comes in the basement through the PVC sleeve that goes around the water main. I'm looking to seal the area inside the PVC sleeve around the copper water main from the inside. What would be the most effective way to do this?

Appreciate any advice given.

 

[GWguy]

A good waterproof caulk should do it, but it best done from the outside. Dig down and fill the end of the pipe with caulk.

 

[mus]

Thanks. I read that digging would increase the amount of water up against the basement walls. I always understood that to be done right, it must be done from the outside. And maybe that's true.

 

[black dog]

Go to a plumbing supply house or good hardware store and get a small bucket of hydraulic cement ( it's designed just for that use ) and clean out the sleeve and with a putty knife pack it in around the pipe and sleeve.
Don't use any caulk or foam that you get from Lowe's / Home Depot it's not designed for hydro- static pressure ...........
If the cement doesn't cure the leak from the inside its time to dig it up outside and do the same outside and then coat the repaired area with tar coating before backfilling.

Get any water outside away from the foundation....
Also check and see if any installed drainage is clogged around the house along with extending the downspouts farther away from the foundation.
Do you have a basement sump pump ?
If so is it keeping up with the demand with heavy rain ?
And is the sump pump discharge far enough away from the house and downhill so the water doesn't recycle itself back into the basement ?

 

[littlelady]

I don't know if our problem is related to yours, but here goes. We found a flooding problem in our basement when cleaning out a massive amount of stuff stored in our basement storeroom when we moved a couple months ago. Many boxes of family history were ruined. The problem ended up being the condensation copper pipe drip from the water heater and furnace that dripped into a pvc pipe installed under the foundation that ran to the outside. It ends up the pvc pipe on the outside had broken under ground, and mud/dirt had clogged it; thus causing overflow into the basement. Fixed it, used a dehumidifier for quite a while, and problem solved.