Last week we discussed what a bulkhead is and ways they can leak. This week we can talk about how you go about fixing leaking bulkheads.
First you want to go outside and see if the downspouts from your gutters dump the water right where the bulkhead is. If it does, you want to put an extender on it to be sure it runs away from the bulkhead area.
Second, you want to see if the soil comes right up to or near where the metal bulkhead meets the foundation. If it does, it is a grading issue. You need to make sure that soil is farther down so the water and snow buildup doesn't cause leaks in the bulkhead.
Now we can talk about the interior and what can be done. If it is leaking where we talked about last week, where the bulkhead structure and stairs meet the foundation and it is leaking at that joint on either side or on the floor, then we can do an injection process.
We drill small holes and put our ports in, and then we connect our electric pump to each port and inject a closed-cell polymer resin. The objective is to fill the void and also to encapsulate it on the outside.
There is also another method we can use. This is where we take a grate and we break the floor, think of a little gutter with a grate on top. That gutter has a pipe that is connected to a sump pump. The water would then go from the bulkhead area, into the grate, into the pipe, and then get pumped out.
For more information on basement waterproofing or bulkhead waterproofing, contact A1 Foundation Crack Repair.