KR2411 Posted February 28, 2021 Report Posted February 28, 2021 I live in Indiana and have a basement we would like to finish. The first step in doing this was to jackhammer concrete around perimeter and install interior French drain. Started this last night to find out I don't have a footing under the foundation. The basement walls are cinderblock foundation that sits on mainly clay soil. Can I still install French drain at bottom of foundation wall without having a footer? If I trench all around perimeter and not disturb soil under foundation wall will I still have to worry about losing strength in holding up wall? I clearly need something because over night the hole has already filled up with water. Any advice is appreciated, there's not much out there with people experiencing same issue with a solution.
Bill Kibbel Posted February 28, 2021 Report Posted February 28, 2021 The drainage system will pull the soil out from under the foundation. I probably have hundreds of photos of failed foundations as a result of "waterproofing" contractors installing these footing drainage sytems adjacent to foundations that have no footings. Some of the failures were catastrophic. In my area, a majority of basement water problems can be solved by correcting all the drainage, grading, gutter and downspout issues. 1
KR2411 Posted February 28, 2021 Author Report Posted February 28, 2021 Thanks for reply Bill. We have addressed outside issues with redirecting water on outside of home. I don't have any water coming in. We just have certain areas with a damp look around edges and small cracks in floor with moisture on it. I'm understanding that this is hydrostatic pressure and putting in the French drain was to eliminate this and help protect our investment of finishing basement. Is there any other solutions to this problem so we can finish basement?
hausdok Posted March 5, 2021 Report Posted March 5, 2021 Yeah, there are other solutions but they are all going to be expensive. Unfortunately, discussing them here is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine; because, nobody here can know, by what you describe, everything that's going on with that foundation. Advice you get here might help, but at the same time it might make things worse. It was probably a bad idea to start jack hammering your basement floors as a do-it-yourself project without finding out more about your building site before you began. Since your house is on clay soil, Before you do anything else that could cause those foundation walls to buckle at their base, you need to seek guidance from local drainage and foundation professionals .
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