Can I Get Water through my basement floor?
Yes, in a few different ways, so, let me explain the three main reasons how you get water through basement floor.
- The basement floor is made of concrete which is porous
- Water is a primary ingredient of concrete from the beginning
- As the concrete cures the evaporable water, water that can evaporate away, does so and is lost
- As the water evaporates it leaves the pores in the concrete that were saturated with water empty
- These empty pores make the concrete porous which allows water through the basement floor
- The basement floor sits on the footing which is a cold pour joint
- Cold pour joints occur because of the time delay between subsequent “pours” of the foundation
- The footing is poured first and sets and cures and then the floor, which sits on the footing, is poured later
- New concrete does not bond or adhere to old concrete
- The floor sits on the footing and does not become one concrete together so there is a joint
- The joint is a cold pour joint, and when ground water pressure builds up, you get water through basement floor.
- Cracks in the floor let water through basement floor
- Basement floor cracks provide and entrance for hydrostatic water pressure from below to let water through basement floor
- Typical basement floor cracks start near a wall and then branch out from there
- Cracks over a larger area are called honeycombing and indicate upward pressure to let water through the basement floor
- Fixing the crack is not as important as solving the problem that caused the crack in the first place
If you have hydrostatic pressure allowing water through basement floor, you need a pressure relief system, A.K.A. a French drain.
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