Water in Basement - Help!

Question

We live in flood plain area and we have a high water table. For some reason our home has a basement. We have lived there almost 15 years and our basement has flooded 3 times when it rains a lot. There is a hole for a sump pump, but the first time it rained and filled up we had like 2 feet of water for like 3 weeks, despite having 2 sump pumps going continuously. I guess it has to dry out enough outside and the water table has to go down before the water will stay out of the basement. I believe the water comes in through a few cracks in the floor and maybe the hole where the sump pump goes. The walls are cinder block and the ceiling is drywall. So what can be done to stop the water from coming in? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

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I don't know if our home has foundation waterproofing. In 2005 when it really rained a lot for days on end is when we used 2 sump pumps and I think the reason they couldn't keep up is due to the water table being higher due to all the rain. So I think that even though we were pumping the water out of the basement, water kept coming through the floor because the water table was so high. Again, the times it has flooded, it has been a lot of water over 3 or 4 days so I wouldn't say it was moderate rain. We are at the bottom of a hill and there are 3 homes on the hill and the water comes off the hill onto our property. Even after it quits raining, water continues to come off the hill for a few days. Also, there is a pond across the street from us that they just dug down and hit water and there is a creek near us as well. Thanks for the advice.

Answer 1

The sump pail is there precisely because you can't prevent water from coming in, at least under the slab. It's unclear whether your home has foundation waterproofing installed.

It's also unclear why two sumps couldn't keep up. In all but the worst scenarios, one pump should be adequate, and it should only run every few minutes at most. If you have pumps running constantly due to moderate rainfall, you have bigger concerns. Is the landscaping around your home sloped the wrong way? Does your neighborhood's topography result in heavy flow through your yard? Is your home located in a lake or pond?

I do appreciate that you thought to mention the makeup of your ceiling. That successfully conveyed the scope of your problem. Unfortunately, a sump pump won't help if the water gets that deep.

Answer 2

There is nothing you can do, short of digging a drainage channel around the entire house which goes down to the bottom of the foundation and is then drained somewhere, which obviously has to be deeper than the foundation of your house. Normally in the situation you describe that is not possible, either because no such drain exists deep enough, or because the during the rain the storm drain will be full anyway, so draining into it is pointless. Might be a good idea to move to higher ground.