French drain — Brooklyn Papaya

^{French drain.}
_{At Decatur street, the bottom floor is english basement which is partially below ground level. We had water/moisture/humidity issues in the basement. As a first homeowner, it took us a long time to get it under control. First few years we tried to block the water from outside which we believe all the work that we did helped to make the building strong and healthy. However, the ultimate solution was internal french drain. Please read below to find more.

It took a few years to comfirm out our house’s water table is not high which means water is coming from elsewhere not from the ground. But that was only good news.
We tried all possible ways to block the water from the exterior, brand new roof including eliminating asbestos layers, repointing and sealing all 4 brick walls, adding and redirecting gutters, all brand new windows/capping, adding a waterproof membrane in all 3 foundation walls in the back, adding a dry well, and awning for all air-shaft and doors.

Unfortunately after all this work was done, our basement was still getting water. During the heavy storm, water was still seeping through the walls behind the sheetlock/top of bench footing in certain areas. Having water issues in a rental property even if it is a small amount things can be very sensitive. This complications and sensibility involves too much stress and we had to find ways to end it. We were considering shutting down the english basement for a rental but using it as storage space.
Long story short, we decided to do one more thing internally.
After we learned about french drain and figured out how it could be installed in a proper space, we tore down the basement completely and ran 2” french drain all around it. Water can still come in but the drain will catch them and send to the main sewer line. This work required an extremely skilled man to do the work and cost tons but WE DID IT!
We are still in the process of verifying its result and it has been working fine for the last 18 months.

If you want to see a full story about the water issue at Decatur st, please check here.}