Wondering if any other homeowners have ever experienced this. House built in 1960. Initially no sump pump since it was tiled around the foundation and came in to basement drain then out to sanitary sewer. in 2013 water started coming up through a few cracks in concrete floor following some heavy rains. Installed a sump pump and that took care of it until a month ago when was even though sump pump is running a lot it's likely not making its way to the sump pit. Plumber broke a little hole in concrete about 15 ft away from existing sump and we can see at least 4 inches of water under slab. Creeps me out. Other than Midwest Basement for 10,000 price tag thinking about putting in another sump pit to see if that works. Either the water table is up in Ames or the tile has cracked in some places around foundation perhaps. Thanks for any input. No not ready to sell yet!
Water underneath basement floor
- Thread starter casey1973
- Start date
Unfortunately, I'm too familiar with basement water problems. I recently had some basement waterproofing done and used WCI out of Carroll. They were great to work with and very reasonable. I've had Midwest basement and GripTite give me bids and they were way out of line for what I needed done.
WCI was able to work with the existing tile I had in the floor and I think we solved the problem for a fraction of the cost of the competitors.
Casey, PM me if you have any specific questions. I had water leaking in through the basement walls just out of reach from my in floor tile. I needed weep holes drilled in my concrete block wall so water can now reach the tile and drain to the sump.
WCI was able to work with the existing tile I had in the floor and I think we solved the problem for a fraction of the cost of the competitors.
Casey, PM me if you have any specific questions. I had water leaking in through the basement walls just out of reach from my in floor tile. I needed weep holes drilled in my concrete block wall so water can now reach the tile and drain to the sump.
You may be ok just adding another pump if it is in another part of basement. If it is right near the other I believe all you'd be doing is splitting the runtime between two pumps.
I had two pumps in my old house in Ames and never got water, but one time one of them died and i had a little seepage up through a rack. My new house has one and we are in a higher part of town, but it has been running more (we've had a lot of rain this winter). I say that as at our old house I remember they both would run sometimes after a wet winter/spring, but there was a spout they were bone dry. Some of this may just be a function of the extra wet spring.
Somewhat related, but we installed a radon mitigation system at the other house and that did help bring down moisture levels in basement (it essentially pulls wet air out from under the house).
I had two pumps in my old house in Ames and never got water, but one time one of them died and i had a little seepage up through a rack. My new house has one and we are in a higher part of town, but it has been running more (we've had a lot of rain this winter). I say that as at our old house I remember they both would run sometimes after a wet winter/spring, but there was a spout they were bone dry. Some of this may just be a function of the extra wet spring.
Somewhat related, but we installed a radon mitigation system at the other house and that did help bring down moisture levels in basement (it essentially pulls wet air out from under the house).
Thanks for the responses. Ya I have a pretty good sized tree near the problem area of the basement. Thought the same thing about tree roots. Called a company who says they can take a camera but what they have won't bend around house and so essentially just the east side. The problem I think is on the south side. Drew 79 I think I will PM you about WCI. To finish off the story the plumber broke the concrete up and did a makeshift sump pit since he just worked me in, drilled some holes in a 5 gallon bucket and stuck another sump pump in there and is draining to the other. Hate to see him break up a path in the concrete to bury hose if its not going to work. The 2 would be 13 ft apart. Any more and I am in the finished area.