I was looking at a property that has a French drain in the basement. I have never owned a property with a French drain. In part of it there is crappy panelling that would need to be ripped down.
My question is this, in a basement that has a French drain all around the interior wall is there any way to finish it or should it be left alone? It would be ideal if I could finish off part of it as a bedroom.
What is the French drain meant to drain? If it’s just in case of a temporary leak of some sort, you’re probably fine. If it’s “all around the interior wall”, it sounds like it may be to keep exterior moisture from getting into the house. I think I’d be investigating exterior slope and water drainage issues.
You do realise that a ‘French Drain’ is pretty much just a trench filled with gravel, hopefully with a slope down to somewhere that the water can escape, or even a soakaway.
They are often found alongside roads in this country but never would be considered adequate for a house. They also need cleaning out from time to time as plants will colonise them given the chance.
French drains are usually installed outside, preferably away from the foundation.
Why on earth did someone put one inside?
And the cheap paneling may be covering water damage.
I would strongly suspect massive drainage problem at some point.
There are interior French drains. This is not something dug into a dirt basement. This is a designed feature built into the concrete foundation when the place was built.
Some sites I see prefer the term interior perimeter drain and say that French drain is not technically correct while admitting it is common usage.
It’s common usage. I recognized what you meant right away. And I know that’s common usage in that part of the country. A French Drain with a working sump pump is the best way to keep a basement dry short of moving the house to a higher location. The question is how much water gets into the drain. If it begins to visibly fill with water at times it will lead to a lot of humidity in your basement during those times, and covering it up is not a great idea, but still gets done. Otherwise you can put a layer of foam insulation over it and install flooring over that. The Pink Panther system might be able to be used, I don’t know, but that might provide you with information.
Does it have grates over it now? I am assuming it is the open type.
You can install an interior framing system that basically allows you to put in walls that are offset from the existing walls, so that the drain is in between the two. The frames can be metal with removable inset panels made of various things. You lose a bit of floor space and may need to jimmy around with electrical outlets and such, but it works. That’s what I have in my basement.
We have a French drain in our basement, with a sump pump. The basement is finished. It seems to work fine.
Yes it’s open. And the weird part is there is no sump pump.
It might have a drain somewhere. You can certainly add a pump.
It wasn’t that big and I didn’t see one. I certainly could add a sump but that would be an additional expense I don’t think I want to have right now. I will have to look at the property again before I make any kind of decision.
Might help your decision if you look at it right after a big rain.