An interior perimeter drain feeding a sump is worth it when water is arriving through or under the wall and the outside cannot be dug. Interior sealants and coatings are not worth it for that problem, because they are applied to the inside face of a wall the water is already moving through. The two get sold under the same phrase.

The condition here that decides it

A small share of the mapped ground in Clinton — up to 5% — is rated as susceptible to ponding, on soil in hydrologic group A. Mostly, then, water here arrives from the surface and moves through the soil rather than standing on it, which is the case that an exterior drain answers better than an interior one. Interior work earns its price on the lots where the outside genuinely cannot be dug, not as the default.

The reasoning behind that

The phrase covers two different products. One is a drain: the slab edge is cut, perforated pipe is laid at the footing, and the water is collected and pumped out. That is real work with a real mechanism.

The other is a coating applied to the inside of the wall. Where water is under pressure from outside, a coating either holds and moves the problem or fails and blisters. It is useful against damp and vapor and not against liquid water arriving under head.

The case for the drain is strongest where the exterior is unavailable — a patio, a driveway, a shared wall, a neighboring building — or where the water is coming up at the wall-floor joint rather than through the wall face.

The case against it is that it accepts water into the structure by design. Where the outside can be dug and the budget allows, stopping the water outside is the better outcome.

More on this: Basement Waterproofing and Interior French Drain in Clinton, UT.

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