Expert: James Ball - 3/15/2011

Question
I have a chimney that isn't being used anymore. I have had a new furnace installed and no longer use the old one. The heat was a boiler heater in my basement. I am looking to finish the basement out but with a large rain that we have experienced in the last couple of weeks I now have a very small amount of water that is coming through the walls in the basement. Also there was pooling of water in the bottom of the chimney liner that I was able to suck out with a wet/dry vac. There is no part of the chimney exposed in the basement and to make matters worse the brick for the chimney goes up inside my garage. I cant dig outside to install new drain tile. I also would not like to cut out my foundation walls to fix this problem. Would pouring a bag or two of fast dry concrete fix the problem? Any other ideas?

Answer
Hello Dan, water is coming in from one of 2 places, either it is coming down the chimney or up through the ground. cover the top of the chimney with water proof tarp, then you can wait for rain or run a hose on the top of the covered chimney and see what happens if it does not come in the cover the top of the chimney (plate steel) or remove it below the roof line. if it is coming from ground water you will have to find a drainage expert.
James