Weeping Tyle Inspection

Weeping tile replacement

Most older homes have weeping tiles made of clay, and later concrete, before the current plastic drainage pipe came into regular use. For the most part, this system worked well for many years but its life expectancy had major limitations. Removal and replacement is truly the most effective method to repair damaged and older weeping tiles. This requires digging the soil on the exterior down to the footing, removed the soil and the old tile and replaced with new perforated plastic drainage piping. Therefore, cracks can be patched and new damp-proofing are installed to ensure that seepage is stopped.

The final part of the repair may be to replace the weeping tile below the basement floor slab. Once the exterior excavation is complete, it may be possible to flush out the excess clay and debris from these tiles if there has not been excess movement in this area. This will require cutting and removal of sections of the concrete floor to allow installation of new, non-perforated drainage piping. If you have several foundation cracks or openings that are allowing excess water into the basement, or if the original damp-proofing on the outside of the foundation is badly deteriorated, complete excavation may be required. If there is only periodic seepage through one or two small vertical cracks under the basement windows, a partial excavation may be possible. Digging down around individual cracks, to allow patching and application of new damp-proofing may work in the short term.

Many older homes maintain quite dry basements even though their weeping tiles have stopped functioning many years ago. Good grading and water management practices may save you thousands of dollars in expensive foundation repairs and avoid major excavation and weeping tile replacement.