lol Larry…
not trying to crap on Martin but… listen for a second sheesh…
he said plumbing 101, ‘start HIGH n work your way down to find leak’.
Watch video i just posted, water test… lol, you need to start LOW aka DOWN first… why?
Because IF i first run the water UP HIGH against windows etc then, at the same time they are getting wet so TOO is the basement wall… you will NOT know WHICH is allowing water in, got it? Plumbing 101 don’t work so good in my shtt imo
Always noticed the theme in your videos of fix the leaks and you seem to poo on the idea of addressing surface water issues in your messages. Appreciate the clarification and more comprehensive explanation to how you solve these issues. Maybe I have missed that in your posts before. 
Aaron, if you noticed the theme then did you also notice how many sellers, homeowners ALREADY raised n sloped the grade or, had new driveways installed aka better pitch/slope lolol still leaked $$$
Example short video, the seller raised and sloped the grade, it’s at least 5 bricks high 2:05 mark of video, sloped out to street and goes down towards neighbors driveway, lol more fun with neighbors, buyers move in and it leaks $$$ they are out the money that SHOULD have been coughed up by seller
It leaked because there were exterior cracks, cracked parging and a hole where the OLD gas line used to go in through foundation wall, see for yourself
another example, this time CONCRETE, new concrete driveway poured w/hope n prayers the new PITCH, slope of slabs would SUPPOSEDLY keep water away, DID IT?
I have ZERO against any homeowner who tries to divert surface water a bit further away, fine, no problem, why? IMO, that will help, a little, lessen the weight against a basement wall, the more weight, the more water in soil, saturated soil does n can cause cracks in walls and walls to bow in, collapse.
On the other hand, selling a house that you know has 1 or more leaks in basement and just want to raise n slope the grade? Dumb idea, can get you sued and would you like that done to you as a buyer? I don’t think so
Ya know, there are some basements that leak, get water in because there are 1 or more openings in, around a basement window, or door or open, deteriorated mortar joints (above grade) so what good will raising n sloping the grade do for these folks? Zip!
That’s why, imo its always BEST to first… correctly identify aka find the problem (s) not just toss dirt around or caulk perimeter of drive/house etc. Water gets UNDERNEATH raised grades, underneath driveways that are pitched away etc, yep on longer, heavier rains water will get underneath these SUPPOSED fixes, have witnessed this for 4 decades and anyone who tries to tell me water doesn’t can’t get under raised gardes or new driveways etc doesn’t know what their talking about n certainly hasn’t done much if any waterproofing, i say grab a shovel big fella’s… watch, learn but no too many think they got it when its clearly obvious to my balding ass and my guys, they don’t.
Aaron, what state are you in ? UT, just checked, MD… well lol just like here in MI and Ohio etc, LOTS of bogus, scamming lying companies out there
Yes there are. But our Realtors here are experts at solving water in basements too from what I can tell. 
I try to explain to people that most homes arent built to intentionally let water inside. I also mention that there is a reason the shingles aren’t inside the attic and the same logic should be applied to the foundation. Obviously I cant do water tests and pull back walls to show water coming in during a home inspection.
@manderson7 I’m still waiting for high water table videos, come on! Please 
lol realtors, hear ya loud n clear hahahaaa, so true though, they know all kinds of shtt.
Simon lol yeah, how about this leasky basement 2 houses + off Lake St Clair, canal across the street, SURELY there’s a high water table here, not!
In fact, homeowner was told by 2 INT basement drainage system scammers he does, this is a high water table and THAT is WHY he leaked, not!
2 short videos
see the Lake lol, NOTE :37 mark, can ya read what Uncle Marrrky has there?
same house, see the exterior drain tiles, footing? It is 7’ deep, WHERE oh screw my balding melon WHERE is the WATER??? lol SURELY a high water table as the INT lying scaks said, nope.
again 7’ deep, 7’ deep 7’ deep helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllo
Since we waterproofed those areas homeowner needed done, he doesn’t get any water in anymore, WHY???
Because YOU know what you are doing, Mark!
Carry on, my friend. 
lol Larry, i really really try to help homeowners not get screwed but , lol they gotta WANT it n many these days are in la la land, playing video games, scratching their butts
Tell me about it… 
Mark speaks the truth!
Mark,
Thanks for the post of house next to the lake/canal… but I’m looking for a video of the 1 in 1000 where the house has actual high water table.
Mark, Thanks for the video of St. Clair Shores house. I’m in Ohio now (been for longer than I was in Michigan, but I grew up in St. Clair Shores, near 12 Mile and Harper. Our house used to leek like crazy. Don’t know if it still does or not. My nephew lives in the house now. We used to get water up to the first or second step sometimes (back in the 60’s) I know when I was a kid we had the outside perimeter of the house dug up (like we see in a lot of your videos) and the outside walls tarred (can’t remember if they did anything to the walls before they tarred them. I remember one crack we had in the cellar area (underneath the front porch) that was almost 1/4" wide and during a hard rain you could watch the water come in. We never had any internal drain system put in (thank goodness) but if I remember correctly, I was taught as a kid that St. Clair Shores used to be a swamp eons ago and our driveway got really big cracks in it too with a lot of settling.
Sorry, I thought I was replying to Mark’s post above. I guess I don’t now where to click when I want to reply.
Ok, trying to follow all of this.
So…what is the best practice to suggest to fix a leaky basement?
It seems to me (knowing nothing) that common sense would say “do both”:
I think (again, I don’t know) that the waterproofing will probably temporarily fix the problem, as long as the sealing material lasts. Eventually even the best tar job is going to leak again. Maybe that’s 5 years, maybe 50.
Thoughts?
Robert, yeah we have done many leaky basements, walls (ext of course) throughout St Clair Shores n pretty much everywhere else in metro area lol, lots of years eh.
so yeah, once upon a time there was… the milk river, and they filled it in with mostly clay n some other shtt but in many areas, new or old builds they backfilled the foundation walls with same soil on site which was, mostly or all clay, hence problems, cracks, leaks in walls etc
so no surprise your old place needed waterproofing and if it was done correctly, waterproofed NOT damproofed (this includes using hydraulic cement IN and over the crack(s)), and backfilled with most-all gravel then that is what is best
Todd, have posted many unbiased links in the past including US Army Corps Engineers, Yoder Builders Ohio, Donan Engineers, Fairfax County VA…THEY write, ‘Most successful repair method is exterior waterproofing that includes waterproofng the walls and backfilling with most-all gravel or sand’.
I don’t bother with sand due to much more settling of it, not good when some homeowners want to install brick pavers etc on top of area or on a driveway side n of course they repour driveway
Jobs we’ve done throughout 40+ years have lasted, as far as i know still do not leak where we waterproofed EXCEPT 3 (in 40 years lol) that had severe bowing already aka, before we did anything and so with bowing walls, especially bad ones, they already have BIG fat ass cracks, at least some and those are often at corner of wall n so a small number of those that already had fat ass cracks can, re-crack, yep. Those 3, the corner crack popped open a bit in the TOP 1 to 3’ feet, lower part was still intact/waterproofed , thats what we saw when we re-dug em lol.
So all the others n that is many throughout the years have lasted, that’s pretty damn good and a super high percentage of no further problems, leaks etc.
HARDLY a ‘temporary fix’.
Compare that to the INT system boneheads who don’t even bother to STOP the water from penetrating the cracks etc, and don’t bother to relieve, reduce ANY of the exterior weiht/soil pressure, tree roots ating upon these foundation walls.
It’s NOT just the tar, in fact it isn’t tar, it is roofing cement and it is applied thick. It’s applied AFTER using hydraulic cement in/over the cracks or other exterior openings in foundation walls and backfilled with most-all gravel, all jobs are… the ones/contractors who backfill with some/half or all of the SAME SOIL, usually clay, are the jobs that do NOT last long, have posted numerous videos here, of THOSE, yes sir, those did not last long at all, some re-leaked within 2-3 months lol.
Add one more thing about sand, for those who believe the drain tile bullshtt lol, not me right, if ya backfill with sand then there is a bigger damn risk that some or alot of that sand will find it’s way into the dumb azz drain tile as we have seen this quite a bit throughout the decades. Have seen some contractors who did EXT waterproofing and backfilled with most or all sand… one thing is, obviously why did the homeowners call us? Well it re-leaked and the previous dipshtts didn’t come back so when we were hired to do it right and dug 'em out, we found some backfilled with most-all sand and the drain tiles were fully clogged with sand… just about all of them were clogged and a BITCH to clean out to re-use… and NO, those basements did NOT re-leak because the drain tiles got clogged with stupid azz sand, no, they re-leaked because the dipshtts didn’t use/apply any hydraulic cement in cracks and–or, they used a THIN mastic/tar/roofing cement on wall (s), and so THAT thin azz shtt doesn’t LAST
Mark,
Thanks for the reply. That’s all useful info. The comment about the sealing being ‘temporary’ came from a training where the instructor mentioned something like that but I could have had it wrong.
So the backfill with gravel or whatever will allow drainage straight down instead of holding water against the wall?
There is an illustration somewhere (maybe nachi library) that the upper layer of backfill should be more impermiable so surface water will run off and not seep down against the wall. The layer under the topfill would be permiable (gravel, etc) as to drain.
What’s your opinion of this setup?
Todd, i don’t do the 1’, upper layer, clay… i don’t want water sitting in 1-2’ clay soil against 1 or more of the exterior cracks.
How about this house, bowed in walls, buyers moved in still leaked… seller paid BIG $$ on an interior drainage system and wall anchors (2nd video below), and they prettied up, slapped some lipstick on the INT cracks, mortar joints etc, total incompetence… all the while the walls needed exterior waterproofing (1st video), why? Because all this time when seller had it, they had exterior cracks in the block foundation walls, THAT is where the water first entered into the hollow blocks and came out on the floor where the bottom of the wall meets the floor, caused some mold, efflorescence etc on inside blocks which is one reason they slapped paint on walls, to try n hide it.
Expansive clay soil on the outside, against the walls… goes bye bye when we do it, NOT when people hire the deceiving INT system morons
outside, check out not only the existing defects aka exterior cracks but ALSO the HOLES on exterior walls that the INT system CHUMPS created = more water entering blocks!
same house, inside, they can FOOL many people, yep!