For the second time now, I’m working to stop water from coming into our basement. I know the real solution to the problem:

I don’t have the time to do that now, and we certainly don’t have the money. So for now, some bandaids with the hope that they will mitigate the problem to some degree.

One problem: a huge crack in the corner of the basement floor. The fact that there is significant concrete efflorescence tells me that the water on the other side of the wall is significant.

The bandaid? Some hydraulic cement. Will it keep the water out of the basement? I don’t know. Will it keep the water out of the concrete? No. To do that, see the video above.

There was one thing I fixed outside the house that might have a more significant impact:

The downspout into our water-collection bin was no longer centered over the opening, meaning that during heavy rain, much of the water just spilled down the side of the house — the same corner where I discovered the efflorescence.

I corrected that problem, but I’m no longer convinced that it’s even worth it to keep the barrel. I also replaced the overflow outlet with a longer piece of PVC so that it wouldn’t just dump it into the downspout diverter/channel/plastic-thingy-whatever-the-hell-you-call-it.

It’s probably none-too-soon, either: we’re expecting up to seven inches of rain this week, which would convert to 9,520 gallons of water coming off our roof.