annual1970
Member
I bought a house in June of last year. It was built in 1992 and is on a somewhat steep hill. The back of the basement is all below grade, and the front is at level grade.
Just before Halloween, my tenant in the basement suite noticed some water pooling in the utility room. A plumber came and checked the hot water tank and said it's not leaking. The tank itself is under a year old, the previous owners installed it. He couldn't find any issues inside and suggested directing the downspouts away from the side of the house instead of just straight down. I did that, but there was no change. The water eventually got bad enough that the tenant moved out. I made an insurance claim and they sent a restoration company out.
After a month of hunting around, they had the basement suite stripped to bare concrete and most of the drywall removed to two feet from the floor. The floor is generally wet from the center back area of the suite in a rough semicircle outwards. The utility room is about 20 feet straight out from the back wall and the water only gets that far now if it hasn't been pumped or vacuumed in a few days. Eventually the restoration crew found an old crack in the center of the back foundation wall that had been repaired at some time previously, but the repair failed.
I had a contractor seal the perimeter of the base of the wall with Xypex. The next day, the floor was still wet so more Xypex was applied a little further up the wall. Checked again a day later and the water was over an inch deep in the same area. It was almost as though the crack in the wall was the drain, not the ingress point. I should note that the water appears to be clean, and there is no smell.
If I shut the water off to the house then no moisture accumulates on the floor. If I turn it on, then water appears again overnight, but only overnight. If the floor is pumped and dried, it stays dry all day even with the water on. The irrigation has been shut off and blown out. Nothing else I can think of uses water automatically overnight, other than maybe a few cups in the fridge ice maker.
Last night I left the water on, and took before and after water meter recordings. Between going to bed and waking up, the meter recorded about 250 litres (66 gallons) flowing at some point in the night. The only usage I know of was a toilet being flushed once, and of course possibly the ice maker. There was significantly more water on the basement floor this morning than last night.
Any suggestions as to what I can try? Restoration has had plumbers and HVAC guys out repeatedly to figure this out, and I feel like I'm still at square one.
Other things that might be red herrings to this, but I feel should be mentioned:
-water hammering in my fridge started about the same time as the water pooling was discovered. Seems like a common problem with the fridge, and recommended fix is to replace a valve at the back of the fridge itself.
-my laundry tub on the same line as the fridge always has murky water when I initially turn it on, both hot and cold
-in the midst of all of this, the overflow valve on the water heater failed. It leaked water all over and when I shut off water to it overnight until I could address it the next day, water leaked quite rapidly from a shower head and a bathroom faucet upstairs on the main level, even though the faucets were both turned off
-I replaced the overflow and the hot water was fine, but the pilot kept going out overnight for about a week afterwards. Would stay on all day but go out overnight. It has been operating fine for about three weeks now.
-the irrigation was blown out about two weeks before the water was noticed in the basement
-there is a surprising amount of condensation on the inside of my windows in the upper main part of the house
-immediately above the problem area in the basement is a covered deck. The drop ceiling tiles in the basement have been partially removed, and there is dampness between the underside of the deck and the top side of the batt insulation. I've been told that the insulation is incorrect and should have been spray foam rather than batt. I suspect this is a separate issue from the rest as there is no moisture going down the walls or dripping from the ceiling.
It has been four months now and everyone I have working on this is stumped. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Just before Halloween, my tenant in the basement suite noticed some water pooling in the utility room. A plumber came and checked the hot water tank and said it's not leaking. The tank itself is under a year old, the previous owners installed it. He couldn't find any issues inside and suggested directing the downspouts away from the side of the house instead of just straight down. I did that, but there was no change. The water eventually got bad enough that the tenant moved out. I made an insurance claim and they sent a restoration company out.
After a month of hunting around, they had the basement suite stripped to bare concrete and most of the drywall removed to two feet from the floor. The floor is generally wet from the center back area of the suite in a rough semicircle outwards. The utility room is about 20 feet straight out from the back wall and the water only gets that far now if it hasn't been pumped or vacuumed in a few days. Eventually the restoration crew found an old crack in the center of the back foundation wall that had been repaired at some time previously, but the repair failed.
I had a contractor seal the perimeter of the base of the wall with Xypex. The next day, the floor was still wet so more Xypex was applied a little further up the wall. Checked again a day later and the water was over an inch deep in the same area. It was almost as though the crack in the wall was the drain, not the ingress point. I should note that the water appears to be clean, and there is no smell.
If I shut the water off to the house then no moisture accumulates on the floor. If I turn it on, then water appears again overnight, but only overnight. If the floor is pumped and dried, it stays dry all day even with the water on. The irrigation has been shut off and blown out. Nothing else I can think of uses water automatically overnight, other than maybe a few cups in the fridge ice maker.
Last night I left the water on, and took before and after water meter recordings. Between going to bed and waking up, the meter recorded about 250 litres (66 gallons) flowing at some point in the night. The only usage I know of was a toilet being flushed once, and of course possibly the ice maker. There was significantly more water on the basement floor this morning than last night.
Any suggestions as to what I can try? Restoration has had plumbers and HVAC guys out repeatedly to figure this out, and I feel like I'm still at square one.
Other things that might be red herrings to this, but I feel should be mentioned:
-water hammering in my fridge started about the same time as the water pooling was discovered. Seems like a common problem with the fridge, and recommended fix is to replace a valve at the back of the fridge itself.
-my laundry tub on the same line as the fridge always has murky water when I initially turn it on, both hot and cold
-in the midst of all of this, the overflow valve on the water heater failed. It leaked water all over and when I shut off water to it overnight until I could address it the next day, water leaked quite rapidly from a shower head and a bathroom faucet upstairs on the main level, even though the faucets were both turned off
-I replaced the overflow and the hot water was fine, but the pilot kept going out overnight for about a week afterwards. Would stay on all day but go out overnight. It has been operating fine for about three weeks now.
-the irrigation was blown out about two weeks before the water was noticed in the basement
-there is a surprising amount of condensation on the inside of my windows in the upper main part of the house
-immediately above the problem area in the basement is a covered deck. The drop ceiling tiles in the basement have been partially removed, and there is dampness between the underside of the deck and the top side of the batt insulation. I've been told that the insulation is incorrect and should have been spray foam rather than batt. I suspect this is a separate issue from the rest as there is no moisture going down the walls or dripping from the ceiling.
It has been four months now and everyone I have working on this is stumped. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
