Should I sand bag it?

[janedoe]

We have had weird issues with the house for about a year now. The floors seemed unstable in some places so we put a bunch of jack posts under the beams in the basement. Then some areas seemed to tilt and we had a couple of cracks in the drywall. We spoke to an engineer about the possibility that the house was settling and he said that that wasn't unusual.

I've been rearranging the entire house in part with an eye toward lessening the load in certain areas. It's a converted barn which seemed to be a piecemeal DIY project so we were concerned that things weren't really up to code and I thought it might be a weight issue.

All of the bathrooms are in a straight line up through the center of the house. We have lost all of the bathroom sinks to unexplained clogs in the last few months. In addition, there is a drain in the middle of the front porch (which I personally hate). While I was in the basement sorting through things, there was a huge thunderstorm. Guess what came up through the middle of the concrete floor, right above the drain pipe? Straight water. There was a puddle in the middle of the floor. Then the entire line of concrete over what I believe to be the connection between the porch drain and the main drain swelled up and created a kind of ridge straight through the basement. Could not believe it. Today it had dried out and the swelling has virtually disappeared.

Clearly the drain is broken down there and I believe that the water is just dumping underneath the house which would explain the instabilities. My question is this. The contractor can't make it out until Friday at the earliest. He'll have to jackhammer the entire area. In the meantime, I need to address the water situation coming in through the porch during storms which we will have again starting tomorrow. So how do I make sure the water doesn't even make it onto the porch? I was thinking sand bags. Does this make sense? If I block the drain entirely, the water will wind up in my living room.

[SunDance]

I don't know about the sandbagging, but I'd be talking to the engineer about the possibility of something like a sinkhole opening up. Good luck with getting it fixed.

[Bamps]

Wow, that sounds like a TON of buckage!! I don't know about the sand bagging either. Hope you get it resolved soon.

[janedoe]

I don't know about the sandbagging, but I'd be talking to the engineer about the possibility of something like a sinkhole opening up. Good luck with getting it fixed.

Thanks. It looks like we're on granite not limestone so I think we're good with the sinkhole thing. I hear where you're coming from though. I'll check with the state geology people.

[janedoe]

Wow, that sounds like a TON of buckage!! I don't know about the sand bagging either. Hope you get it resolved soon.

Thanks. I've decided to make lemonade out of lemons and ask him to put in new drains for the bathroom we ripped out down there at the same time so we can just call it the beginning of the new bathroom. Then I won't feel like this is completely pointless. On the bright side, my husband just found out that he was supposed to be getting time and a half for overtime at his new job so he's getting back pay. Guess what that's going toward? Poor guy. It's always something.

[KenZ71]

Yikes!

When we lived in Massachusetts we had backups on the main sewer line. The town sewer department came out & determined it was tree routes growing through the line. The ran a tool down the line to trim the roots and all was good.

A knowledgeable contractor will figure it out. Might need to do a video inspection of the drains to check for cracked or broken lines. Of course if you have an unstable foundation it's going to be quite an experience. Good luck!

[POPTOP]

Oh, what a mess. Luckily no experience with that kind of leaking. Sending good thoughts.

[SunDance]

Thanks. It looks like we're on granite not limestone so I think we're good with the sinkhole thing. I hear where you're coming from though. I'll check with the state geology people.

The reason I'd said "something like" a sinkhole was with washed out dirt in mind...not so much naturally formed caverns or some such.

I sure hope things are stable.