I'm in an old house that occasionally gets water in the basement. The basement isn't finished so it isn't a big deal if some water comes in right now. The problem right now is that there's a drain in the poured concrete floor, but the floor isn't perfectly level and the drain seems to be at the highest point in the floor. So the water flows everywhere except for the drain.
How can I get the water that comes in to flow towards the drain? I've considered cutting channels in the floor for water to flow, but I'm wondering if there's an easier and less drastic solution.
Right now, I'm just looking for a stop-gap. I've done all the little things I can to improve drainage from my house and stop water from coming in. Sealing the foundation and fixing the poorly-designed window wells isn't a job I can tackle right now.
Best Answer
Depending on how out of level your concrete floor is, filling in the uneven surface with self-leveling concrete could improve the slope and drainage of the floor. Odd that the drain is at the highest point, but in an old house it could have settled over time. A quick search for self-leveling concrete at a big-box home improvement store brought up a product that can fill from a feathered edge thickness to 1.5" of variation.
If you just want to get any puddles of standing water into the drain, a shop broom or long-handled squeegee could be used to push the water toward the drain.