Hi all,
My wife and I recently closed on a two-unit home. We plan to live on the 2nd floor and rent the 1st floor, which will cover about 80% of our PITI! We got the home at a good price, in part because it is an older home (built in 1880!) and has not been taken care of so well.
The foundation is an old stone and mortar foundation. During bouts of heavier rain (1" over 24 hours) and the day or two that follows we are getting some water seepage around the edge of the basement (where the floor meets the wall.) The seepage does not cover the entire floor, but it is trickling in from a couple spots.
I'm trying to discern the following:
1. The seriousness of this and immediacy with which it should be fixed
2. If it needs fixing soon, what the best remedy is
Other relevant details:
1. The design of our roof results in two valleys, one on either side, off of which water gushes during heavier rains. As a temporary stopgap, I've placed 18 gallon beach buckets underneath. After hard rains that bucket is full!
2. We have no gutters as, from what I understand, many older homes in the area do not because they are trickier to install.
3. In some areas around our house the ground slopes, slightly, towards our foundation as opposed to away from the foundation.
4. The mortar in our foundation is loose and crumbling in some spots. Definitely needs addressing, but I'm trying to figure out how immediately we need to take action.
Quotes so far:
1. We had a gutter company come out and quote us about $800 to run gutters along the sides of our roof and pipe it, underground, into our backyard.
2. Had a meeting with what seems like a boutique waterproofing company last night and they quotes me nearly $20,000 to do what is essentially a top-to-bottom waterproofing of the outside and inside of our foundation. That price is laughable, but I would hope that the work is awesome.
3. Another mason quoted around $3,000 for basement parging and tuckpointing.
Thank you for anyone still reading! What would you suggest?
TL;DR - we are getting water seepage in our basement. How pressing of a concern is this? What is the best way to prevent this? What is the cheapest way? What is the correct balance between timing, quality, and cost?