I would like to add that I was also very pleased with Renee this summer. He
kept my garden looking beautiful during my 6 weeks absence.

Elizabeth rurak

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Hi,

May I stick my nose in here on the matter of wet basements? I'm on
Brandywine, west of Wisconsin, now retired and an engineer. As such,
in my view French drains and associated sump pumps deal with
symptoms, and as you have discovered, they create their own unique
problems. The proper question then becomes, why is your basement
getting wet in the first place, such that it needs a French drain and
sump pump to deal with the wetness problem? You are not alone with
the problem. As Tevya sang, "Tradition!"

The portion of my life in the States in New England regarding lawn
rejuvination called for use of grass seed, but when we moved here in
'72 I was quite astonished to learn that use of grass seed seems
unknown here, the local preference (tradition) almost invariably
being to lay cut sod.

My house, like a great part of AU Park was built in 1935. When we
bought our house it had been - the automotive term is "Detailed"- but
I can't recall the equivalent real estate term for "prettying up" a
house for sale - and the lawn looked almost golf course pristine and
beautiful.

After, of course the laying down of a layer of new sod, by the
"cosmeticians", per local practice, was to conceal the long effects
of rambunctious previous kids and their dogs.

Our basement was wet when it rained, and I could see a lot of old
"Mickey Mouse" concrete work had been slathered on in previous
attempts to get a dry basement. Which didn't work.

Then the light went on. Prior to our purchase, our front lawn was
some 2 or 2 1/2 inches lower (relative to the house grade) because
of the thickness of the new sod layer. Next question: How many
times had our house been sold over the interval between 1935 and
1972, and is it reasonable to assume the majority of sales called for
a new layer of sod, particularly as I have a large, gorgeous,
deciduous Magnolia smack dab in the middle of my front lawn under
which leafy bower, grass is disinclined to grow?

How many house sales during that 37 year period? (Answer should be
available in the public records). Assuming average tenure at a
conservative 10 years, that would indicate there have possibly been -
say 4 - new sod layerings during the interval - and I've never seen
any lawn grade lowered by any inches before new sod is laid down.

Bottom line: Because of sod layering, my house has been lowered
below grade perhaps by some 8 inches over the years below its
original setting, where originally the lawn was properly sloped to
direct rain water away from the house foundation. But now, with
the house sitting perhaps some 8 inches below original grade, the
rain water runs toward, not away, from the basement walls.

In my case, some clay laid against the exterior basement walls to
create a new slope where the rainwater, as originally, is now again
directed away from the foundation, I finally have a dry basement.

Of course, one alternative is to jack the house up some 8 or 10
inches out of the ground to sit higher and to demand use of grass
seed in the future.

Hope this may be of help. Proper yard drainage is the obvious
engineering answer. (Or, perhaps, put the French drain outside of
the foundation wall with all its own inherent problems.)

John Moody

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