Wow. I was out of town for a few days, and when I returned, the landscape had been transformed. Many waterfowl and songbirds had returned, and the snow had largely melted away. I thought that was a good thing—until I ventured into the basement.
When I first saw the basement after MAL moved here, I wondered about the origins of some dark reddish spots on the basement floor. It clearly wasn’t paint, and didn’t resemble any sort of typical spill pattern. Not coming up with a suitable explanation, I forgot about them. But now I’m pretty sure I know their origin.
The landlady did a very good job of covering the walls with water–resistant paint. I have never seen any water seeping in on any wall, nor even a hint of mold on them. However, the concrete floor was left untreated. And the water table in this area is normally high. You can see where I’m heading, I’m sure ... with all the snow that’d accumulated now melting rapidly, the water table has risen a lot. Enough for the pressure to push water through the concrete of the basement floor in some spots—and at a pretty good clip, too.
The good news is that the water seepage is limited to various spots, rather than the entire floor. More good news is that MAL, forward-thinker that he is, bought a lot of shelving so that nearly all of the stuff that shouldn’t get wet was already off the floor.
The bad news is that the water is coming in fast enough for us to watch it percolate up. Overnight, enough accumulates that by the time we’ve sucked up all the standing water throughout the basement, it is already starting to pool in the areas we vacuumed first. So for the past few days, on top of trying to catch up from being out of town, trying to get back to move preps, and trying to write, I’ve been vacuuming water off the basement floor about every hour or two during the day. You can imagine what the constant interruptions are doing to my train of thought.
The really bad news is that we are currently getting another dumping of snow. Accumulations of 6–9 inches are expected. And daytime temperatures over the next several days are going to get above freezing, so there’s no end in sight. Welcome to spring!
We’re Not Singing “Row Your Boat”—Yet
Waterfall in the crawl space
With the recent heavy rains on top of melting snow we had a waterfall pouring into our crawlspace from a vent on the foundation. Much faster than than the sump pump could handle it.
Finally slowed it down by putting a piece of plywood over the vent on the outside. Working in ice cold water was fun.
Sympathy!
You are probably very glad you didn't buy that house.
While the total volume of the water in my basement never reached yours, I had a slightly similar problem the first spring, and this last one. Since I'm on top of a hill, the water table wasn't involved, just the way rain hits the southwest side of the house and seeps in through one or more cracks where the cement wall of the basement connects to the cement floor. I'm told those cracks are difficult to avoid in construction and almost impossible to mend afterwards. ARGGG
An engineer friend suggested I dig the soil and gravel away from the back wall outside, lay down heavy plastic, and replace the soil/gravel so it would have a better drain tilt away from the wall. So, last summer that's what we did when the new deck was built out there. I await the rain to find out if it's going to work, of course.
So far we've had an unusual amount of snow here, and it has melted several times with all the snow and slush from the roof falling right into the "zone" where the plastic was laid. No sign of water in the basement yet... but the spring rains are still to come, and that will be the acid test.
We shall see.
Water update
Wow, W.D.—a waterfall? That doesn’t sound like fun. Hope it’s let up for you.
Mama, buying this house has never been an option; it’s part of the current owner’s family legacy and I think it would take dire straits for her to consider selling it. Given the way things have played out over the past several days, MAL and I are inclined to think something else might be going on underneath it ... maybe a spring being born or something. We had a surge of water yesterday in the creek, with more snow melting and steady rains, but nary a sign of water seeping in to the basement. It’s truly mystifying.
Ugh!
Nothing like a little water in the basement to make your day a little more interesting...