Interior basement drain tile
When water comes in at the joint between the wall and the floor, an interior drain gives it somewhere to go besides across your basement.
Interior drain tile is a buried channel that runs around the inside edge of the basement floor. The crew saws and breaks out a strip of the slab beside the walls, digs a shallow trench, sets perforated pipe in washed stone, and slopes it to a sump pit. Water that comes through the wall or up at the footing drops into the pipe instead of spreading over the floor, and the sump pump sends it outside. The trench is then refilled with concrete.
When does an interior system make sense?
It's the common answer when water shows up along the floor edge on more than one wall, or when the foundation is old stone or hollow block that can't be sealed from inside. It handles water after it reaches the house rather than keeping it off the wall, but it doesn't require tearing up a driveway, porch or the neighbor's side yard. On the narrow lots of Binghamton's First Ward, North Side and East Side, where houses sit a few feet apart, that's often the only practical option.
What happens during the job?
- Finding the water. The company traces the entry points and checks the walls for cracks, bowing, loose stone or failed mortar.
- Clearing the walls. Shelves, stored items and any finished walls along the perimeter have to come out of the way.
- Trench and pipe. The slab is cut, pipe and stone go in, and many installers add a plastic wall flange or dimpled membrane so water running down the wall ends up in the drain.
- Sump. The pipe empties into a lined pit with a pump and a discharge line to the outside.
- New concrete. The trench is patched and the floor is usable again.
What should I ask before signing?
- Which walls get drain tile, and why those and not the others?
- How is the pipe protected from silt, and is there a cleanout?
- Where does the pump discharge, and is that allowed where you live?
- If the house has a radon or vapor mitigation pipe through the slab, how will the system work with it?
- Does the job need a building permit, and who is getting it?
- What does the warranty cover, and does it pass to a buyer?
What affects the price?
- Linear feet of wall that need drain tile
- Slab thickness and how easily the crew can get equipment in
- Finished walls, flooring or built-ins that must come out
- Pump choice, battery backup and length of the discharge line
Pricing comes from the waterproofing company after someone has been in the basement, looked at the walls, floor joint and sump, and walked the outside of the house. We don't quote prices, and nobody can give you an honest number over the phone before seeing where the water actually comes in.
Where we connect you with help
Common questions
Will interior drain tile keep my basement walls dry?
Not by itself. It collects water after it gets through or under the wall. A wall membrane can steer that water down into the drain so it doesn't run onto the floor, but the wall behind it may still be damp.
Can drain tile go in under a finished basement?
Yes, but the bottom of the finished walls usually has to be removed and rebuilt. Make sure that demolition and repair is spelled out in the proposal.
Related services
More background: Broome County basement water guide.
Wet floor edge, a weeping crack, or a sump that runs all night?
Call and a Broome County waterproofing company will come find where the water is getting in.