Crack in Basement Floor Seeping Water

Hello,

I have just discovered that my basement floor has a 3-foot long crack in it. This crack has begun to seep water through it slowly. The crack "starts" from a PVC pipe that is in a vertical direction which is used as my washing machine's drain. On the other side of the crack (but not directly where the crack ends), there is a drain that goes under my basement floor.

Is it possible that there is a pipe underneath my basement floor that connects the drain to this PVC pipe that may have burst? If there is a pipe and it has burst, would applying that basement floor/wall crack patch stuff (and then sealant) fix the problem? Or, should I use a jackhammer to get to that pipe and replace the pipe and then re- apply concrete to the area? Any other suggestions?

I can send pictures to anyone who wants to see the damage.

Your help is appreciated!

Thanks, Kevin

Reply to
Kevin G.
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Pictures always help, but I'm more inclined to think that maybe the water table is rising in that area after a heavy rain, etc. Of course, maybe you live in Arizona, or something and you already know for a fact that's not the case.

Reply to
zzyzzx

I live in Northwest Ohio. I have posted some pictures here:

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Reply to
Kevin G.

Do you have perimeter drains around your foundation? If so what elevation(s) are they at? Footing, a few feet below the surface, etc. Does the surface slope towards your foundation from a higher level, or does it slope down and away?

For water to rise through the crack in the floor it must be under pressure. Remember, 0.433 psi/foot of elevation change.

Reply to
Boden

You might resize those pics ... they are huge!

A dial up poster, may not want to wait for them.

Reply to
Oren

We had gutter problems in the past that have been corrected for the most part. Ironically, there was a lot of water dripping from the gutters almost exactly at the point where I'm seeing this crack with water coming into it (on the roof, 50 feet up, of course).

There are not perimeter drains around my foundation.

I can say that the sloping away from the house is not the greatest in some areas, but it's good for the most part.

In addition to this large crack, I have noticed a few very small, hairline sized cracks on the basement floor that also have very small amounts of water coming up through them.

Reply to
Kevin G.

what's the purpose of the PVC next to the crack? Is it a drain? If so, I doubt that there'd be enough volume going through in to make that much moisture.

Reply to
Buck Turgidson

Yes, the PVC is a drain for the washing machine. But, as mentioned in my first post, there's a floor drain about 3-4 feet away from this PVC pipe at the "other end" of the crack.

One other thing to note, when the washing machine is emptying water out during the spin cycle (just prior to the rinse cycle), soap suds bubble up through the floor drain. This leads me to believe that the drain and the PVC pipe that you're seeing in the picture are connected.

Reply to
Kevin G.

I'd have the pipe scoped to determine whether it is actually a pipe issue or simply a high water table. the fix will depend on which problem you have.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I think you have ground water problem, probably from roof run-off and rain that is a bit above the basement floor. I'm assuming that the washing machine drains to a sanitary sewer, not just under the slab. The PVC pipe you describe is likely not the culprit. If you are still concerned just drop a sewer dye tablet into the washing machine drain when the machine isn't running.. If the water coming up through the floor shows color, then the drain is defective, if not it isn't the source of the water.

Reply to
Boden

I think we have a winner.

Reply to
zzyzzx

I think you will find that the crack is from water pressure under the concrete that is due to a high water table (or possibly, from not a good enough runoff of water away from the house on the outside).

The soluti>> Pictures always help, but I'm more inclined to think that maybe the

Reply to
BETA-33

Isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Probably cracked along the pipe because it is thinner there.

Reply to
Norminn

I'd get outside and make sure the yard is correctly pitched away from the house on all side. Why is that gutter overflowing? Where the downspouts end, the bare minimum is to have a long splash block to get the water away. Much better is a length of flexible pipe that can take it 6ft or so away, but that can't always be done.

And get outside in a heavy rain and see what is really going on. You may find water screwing things up that you never expected. I was having a problem and went outside to find that the flex pipe on the downspout was not shoved on high enough. When there was a heavy rain, the pipe was overflowing right at the foundation. If I didn't look during a heavy rain, I'd never have realized it.

Reply to
trader4

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. I have found that most of the water is actually not leaking from this crack in my basement floor, but from where the floor and the wall meet close to that area. The larger crack that I've talked about in previous posts is also leaking water, but is doing so at a slow pace.

Also nearer to where most of the water is coming through, there also appears to be some hairline cracks that are allowing water to come through. There is one other location where water appears to be coming in from where the floor and wall meet, and there are several other locations where water is coming up through small, hairline cracks in the floor.

With regards to the big crack that I've talked about in previous posts, within the next couple of days, I'm planning on patching up this crack. It looks like the previous homeowner(s) already tried to patch the crack, but they did not create any dovetail grooves in the crack. Any idea how far apart to space these grooves along the length of the crack?

Also, I do have a sump pump already in place, and it kicks on every

2-3 minutes. Not sure why this is not removing most or all of the water from around/beneath my foundation.

Thanks for any and all replies.

Kevin

Reply to
Kevin G.

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:28:37 -0700 (PDT), "Kevin G."

Is the outflow well clear of the foundation?

Reply to
Roy Starrin

pump already in place, and it kicks on every

I'm not quite sure what an outflow well is, but if you're referring to the place to where the water from the sump goes, that is an underground sewer about 50 feet away from my house hear the street. Ironically, about a year ago, we were having problems where my sump pump did not seem to be working properly (it would never shut off) and it was discovered that the sump pipes underground that lead to this sewer were clogged and cracked due to tree roots and they had to be replaced.

Reply to
Kevin G.

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