wood hatch sealing

[vwboomer]

Got home tonight after work and immediately smelled....somethin. I split some oak logs in the basement before work but they shouldn't have smelled that much. I got downstairs to find water I can tell that at least most of it came in through my wood hatch.
The hatch is about 20 inches below the level of my driveway and is covered by a plywood...cover. What are ya'll using to keep water out?


I never would have thought that the smallish (1/4") gap around the cap would allow that kind of water in, but I guess it was really pouring and the ground isnt' absorbing anything yet.

On the plus side, while squeegeeing the water towards the drain, I found my cat's 2nd favorite place to poo when I've neglected his litter box too long. Oddly enough right behind the never used basement corner toilet lol (there's no bathroom, just a toilet in the corner with almost a stall built around it. odd.)

 

[bsruther]

Got some pics of it?

 

[savageactor7]

HUH!

 

[vwboomer]

Here's the pics.
I bought a roll of the garage door sealing rubber. If I can get that tacked onto the bottom of the hatch cover maybe it'll keep the water out.
There is a drain at the bottom of the hatch that goes nowhere. maybe I ought to clean it out.

 

[savageactor7]

Is the water coming off the roof too? Maybe it a simple fix for now is to lay a bead of silicone caulking along the top of the concrete.

Perhaps a lip of caulking will do it for now but you're going to have to build it up permanently over the summer.

 

[fossil]

...There is a drain at the bottom of the hatch that goes nowhere. maybe I ought to clean it out.

Ya think? ;-P Rick

 

[vwboomer]

...There is a drain at the bottom of the hatch that goes nowhere. maybe I ought to clean it out.

Ya think? ;-P Rick

lol well. it's a french drain or whatever you call it so the dirt that I can see in it might well be all there is - no real hole. we'll see.

Gutters are clean so there is no roof water coming down on the hatch. I think I will anchor some treated 2x2 as a lip on the inside of the well once it gets to spring time.
First spring after buying a house in Nov will always yield surprises I guess Today I built up some concrete along the back porch so it quits leaking into my laundry room. Thats the problem with having a driveway butted up against the brick of the house - sooner or later someone backs into the porch and knocks it askew from it's basement blocks!

 

[fossil]

...First spring after buying a house in Nov will always yield surprises I guess

Oh yeah...count on it. My house in Virginia started taking water into the basement our first spring there. What a PITA. You'll git 'er figgered out, I'm sure. Rick

 

[bsruther]

You may need to put some kind of lip around that opening. Might be the easiest fix.

 

[Wood Duck]

I'd put a lip around that opening, and build the lip with a slant to it so that the lid is slanted away from the house like a shed roof. I think you could simply use treated lumber for the lip, sealing it to the driveway with silicone or something similar. The lip should keep out water that might run along the concrete, while the slant to the lid should prevent water pooling on it or running toward the house and into the well. It seems like this should minimize the amount of water that gets in.

 

[vwboomer]

A post back from the dead!
I did pour a 3x3 lip around the top. And it turns out the water wasn't coming in there at all! See, it always rained when I was at work so I never got to see it happen. As it turns out it was coming from between the blocks that formed the wall of the hatch on the driveway side. I tried patching it when it was 35 and raining this winter but it didn't work very well. Last week I finally got around to putting a coat of fiberglass reinforced concrete all around the inside of the wall, as well as the bottom. Time will tell if it will pop off or fix the problem. Hopefully that solves it. I also used some of the same mixture around 2 of the 3 sides of the back step. Until the ground freezes and we get some rain/snowmelt I won't know if it works or not.