Wet Basement Carpet

[drewbird91]

Figured I post it here to get some input. I have 2 waterproofing basement specialists coming out next week, but in the meantime I wanted to get some feedback.

Saturday morning the kiddo found a puddle on the carpet in the basement. In Wisconsin it has been 40*F plus for a few days and most of the snow that was here melted over the last few days. Yard is completely saturated. The leak was directly below the back concrete patio (which I did not snow blow this year). Carpet was wet from the wall to about 4-5 feet out from the wall and ~10-15 wide.

I checked the gutters, they were connected and clean. The concrete patio is slopped just barely away from the house. Basement is finished but that wall where there is a problem was redone at some point in time as I can tell the stucco texture is clearly different than the rest of the basement and so is the wainscoting on the bottom part of the wall.

I pulled the carpet back a foot or so since its old and glued down, didn't see anything major. I also removed some of the wainscoting and the drywall behind it was dry and did not look water damaged. The wood trim wasn't soft either. Took the sealed sump pump cover over (sealed for radon) and it triggered the float and kicked on. There is only 1 drain tile pipe coming into the crock and that was dripping very little water. The sump crock is pretty far away from the problem area.

Not sure if its a crushed drain tile, crack in the basement wall, or something else. Next step is cutting some drywall back (behind the wainscoting) to see if I can see a crack.

https://scontent-ort2-1.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16114945_10101509105078324_1648949968268134690_n.jpg?oh=a24cf9f2fd028396103b3eb6b204dd55&oe=5911F307

https://scontent-ort2-1.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16195939_10101509105093294_7394693781645316899_n.jpg?oh=7de777db8beb5ff29e3b52a9a1bbf532&oe=590474AE

 

[kd3pc]

be aware a lot of waterproofing experts sell "product". There are really not any products that can be applied to the interior that are going to stop the leak you see.

Water is seeping in from the outside, and the solution will have to be applied to the outside.

Can you see where the drain tile exits? Given the snow/water/melt and such, you should see a flow and it should exit well away from the foundation. Same with the other drains, assuming the gutters are connected and the drain tile works as it should.

You may need to keep the patio clear of snow as best you can, or the water table has risen above the asphalt. Somewhere the drain tile or foundation sealing has been compromised.

Best of luck

 

[77thor]

What part of Wisconsin? Is there a lot of clay in the soil?

The reason that I ask is that here in the Milwaukee area the soil consists of a lot of clay.
And clay will cause problems when it is up against the basement wall.
Eventually it will push the wall inward causing cracks and allowing water to penetrate.
It is a very common problem in this area.

The permanent fix is to excavate down to the drain tile, straighten the walls with hydraulic jacks, repair the cracks(inside & out), waterproof the outside of the walls, and then backfill with gravel... an expensive proposition. (Ask me how I know)

 

[CJ7VFR]

Is it possible that the water seeped up thru the floor via a crack of some kind since none of the materials on the walls were wet? Water can sometimes find it's way under a foundation, and then seep up thru small hairline cracks in the concrete floor.

During Hurricane Irene, I had water coming up thru cracks in my basement floor because my French drain was becoming overwhelmed because my sump pump was not running due to the power being out. It was odd to see it doing that.

Just a thought.

Jim

 

[p_mori7]

I would also check the patio door. If it's been raining, you may have a leak there. If not, then it looks like a bust-up of the patio and excavation of the exterior of the foundation is in your future.