Should my floor have been tanked?

Question

I have recently had my basement tanked as i wanted to use the space. We have had problems with water appearing on the floor over the past 6 months, so, i got a builder out and he recommended that i had the basement tanked. They tanked the walls and dug up the floor and put a damp-proof course down. This was 2 months ago. It has been ok up untill a couple of days ago when we had a couple of hours rain, now we have the water back! Should the floors have been tanked too???

Also we are having problems with condenstation, thay walls are wet and we have a tide like line across the bottom of the wall, any advice??

Answer 1

Tanking implies that the walls and floor are completely watertight, think of it as if it was constructed of glass as in a glass fish tank.

Answer 2

Easy looking back but it seems that rather than a 'builder' you needed a specialist in this type of work. Did you have any form of written specification that stated what the work would achieve? I suspect not. Verbal discussion is not much use if you intend to pursue the builder. Look at his written estimate , if there was one, and decide whether it is of any use in retrospect. Other than that you will either have to have it done properly, with a proper written spec. Or you could install a small sump with an automatic pump to dispose of collected water. It really depends upon what is satisfactory to you.