Water coming through cracks in basement floor

[Cicada]

When we have too much snow (like the last two years) and/or the snow melts quickly (like the last two years), I have water coming up through the cracks in the basement floor. Before I bought the house, they had to tear up the cement around the perimeter, place tiles down and put in a sump pump. Even with the new system, I get moisture on the floor. Is there anything I can apply to the cracks to seal them? Can this be done while the floor is wet?

[SFC]

Call your local ready mix company for info,or any in the metro,forget the box stores, if they dont know ask for some suppliers that sell these types of products. They should be able to get u the answer.

[Pat K]

If you seal the cracks it will only lead to more cracks!

You need to releave the hydralic preasure by running drain tile under the floor the width of the basement in a few places and tying it in to the existing tile.

[Tom7227]

I agree with Pat. Be sure that your sump is working. It is likely that the drain tile wasn't put down far enough and maybe without pea gravel. I had water coming out of the blocks on a wall that was 3 feet inside the house before I put in the drain tile system. You've got to get that water out of there before you can think about doing anything to seal the floor.

That was the worst work I have ever done in my life cutting the floor and digging out the old stuff. I have a walk out basement and it still was horrible.

[slurpie]

Yeah sealing wont do no good. You neeed to put some tile under your floor and relieve the pressure as others have stated.

[delcecchi]

Is the drain tile on the inside or the outside of the basement wall? I put tile on the inside and it works great. (sledge hammer and a shovel, handing the dirt out a basement window in a bucket. Took a while)

You could run a branch or two out away from the wall to get more drainage.

[ottertailguy]

How far is your sump pump draining away from your house? If it's not far enough it can be getting back to your house. Mine is 70 feet that goes underground and have notice a big difference the amount of time my pump runs. My neighbor did the same thing but also did his down spouts on the back side of his house.

[Cicada]

The drain tiles are on the inside of the house. The previous owner had to have it installed before I could buy the house. I bought it on a first homeowner's loan. Looking back, did the guy not install it correctly? It is a house that was built in the early 1900's and the basement floor looks like it was put in at different times, hence, the cracks in the floor. It's now to the point where I need to use my shop vac to get the water off the floor. I am the lowest house on an extra long block and all the water from the block runs down to my place. My sump pump takes the water to the back half of my back yard about 50 feet away. The back half is maybe a foot lower than the rest of the yard with a slight grade from right to left as I face it from the back of the house. I pump to the high side of the grade to allow as much evaporation as I can get. There is usually a pond back there for a few weeks in the spring. Once in a while, we get ducks to move in back there.

[jentz]

The drain tiles are on the inside of the house. The previous owner had to have it installed before I could buy the house. I bought it on a first homeowner's loan. Looking back, did the guy not install it correctly? It is a house that was built in the early 1900's and the basement floor looks like it was put in at different times, hence, the cracks in the floor. It's now to the point where I need to use my shop vac to get the water off the floor. I am the lowest house on an extra long block and all the water from the block runs down to my place. My sump pump takes the water to the back half of my back yard about 50 feet away. The back half is maybe a foot lower than the rest of the yard with a slight grade from right to left as I face it from the back of the house. I pump to the high side of the grade to allow as much evaporation as I can get. There is usually a pond back there for a few weeks in the spring. Once in a while, we get ducks to move in back there.

With all the knowledge no one mentioned Hydrolic Cement. I cant refer you By rules here so just Google HYDROLIC CEMENT

[Surface Tension]

The ground around the house will not freeze but the ground a few ft away will. If you have water close to the house it will drain where the ground is not frozen which is along you basement walls. Stop the water from getting there in the first place. Proper grade that slopes away from the house. If there is any standing water close to the house create a swale for that water to drain.

[Tom7227]

Sort of the bottom line it seems that you don't know if it was installed properly or not. When we did it we drilled holes in each void in the blocks just above the footing and put a half inch piece of pvc into the hold out to the trench and then put an elbow on it and another piece of pvc downward for a couple of inches. Pea gravel about 3 inches deep, drain tile with a sock on it, fill the trench with more pea gravel and then cemented it over. The trench was probably at least a foot deep and angled to get the water to run to the two sump baskets.

I suppose you could try and track down whoever did it and see what they could tell you but I doubt you'd get much of an accurate story.

Best bet in my opinion is to let it go until it dries out and then run a couple of lines out to drain the center area of the basement. Water can travel an incredible distance and pressure can make it even go 'up hill' a bit. It's a tough piece of work but it sounds like that's what you may have to do, especially if you intend to finish off the basement at all.

Good luck. You need a size 18 neck and a size 3 head to haul that material out of the basement so think about it before you start. Hardest work I ever did and the other guy was running the jack hammer and the saw.