The best and most reliable approach is the WaterGuard basement waterproofing system. While other approaches can work, this one is clearly the best.

First the perimeter of the floor is removed. If it�s a block wall, weep holes are drilled into each core of each block to continually drain the water out of the wall.

Then the WaterGuard is installed. WaterGuard is a piping system engineered specifically for wet basement purposes, designed to avoid the problems of other approaches. Then it is backfilled and the floor is re-concreted.

Water from the block, Footing-wall joint, and from under the floor is all drained away through the system. The wall drain is a molding with spacers that create a neat-looking drain against the wall that will never clog because it sticks up above the floor about an inch, so dirt and small objects from the floor can�t get in it.

The next benefit is very important. The WaterGuard is not sitting down in the soil so it will never clog, because the soil will not wash upward into the system. 5 or 10 or 20 years from now this system will still be clean and free draining. Can you see how this is very important?

We will install a sump pump -- preferably the TripleSafe or SuperSump -- and a feed pipe from the WaterGuard to drain all the water out of the system to the sump (or other drain).