Deck drainage system or French drain?

Question

We have a 30 foot deck that runs along the back of our house and extends 12 feet out into the yard. It sits about 2 feet off the ground. Our basement gets water seepage in the spring months (march/April/may) from this back wall of our house (seepage comes in from where wall meets basement floor). I am in the middle of rebuilding the deck. To help with the seapage problems - would it be worth it to add a deck drainage system (such as this: http://www.deckmagazine.com/design-construction/low-cost-deck-drainage-landscape-membrane-and-off-the-shelf-gutters-keep-the-space-below-new-and-existing-decks-dry_o) that drains into a gutter at the far end of the deck away from the house? Or is it better to put some type of external French drain to divert water instead?

Norris720 · Answer

Andrew - You need to have a drain around your foundation to direct water from coming into your basement. Next you need to insure that your grade under your deck is away from your foundation. This the best fix unless you have to dig around your whole foundation and have to a weeping system and have your foundation walls sealed to direct water into the weeping drains. You Tube videos will help you to understand the project.

Carole Triplett Brooks · Answer

My question would be whether there would be enough French drain to adequately remove move that much water. 30'x 12 is a pretty good sized deck. So you have guttering installed on that side of the house?

C. D. Scallan · Answer

Honestly , I'm not sure which one would be better , but the first thing that I thought of is that a gutter will have to be cleaned and maintained. If either one dirverts water away from the house , I'd go with the French drain

William · Answer

Two ways to handle you situation. Install an exterior foundation system or interior foundation system. A deck drainage system or anything above the foundation will not solve the problem you have below ground level. You need a system that is at the level or below where the seepage occurs.