I have a wet basement which became wet kind of all of a sudden. The house was built in the 1970s and has poured walls in the basement with a sump and an inside drain tile.
Last June here in Ohio we had about 5-6" of rain one night, and water seeped into the basement along the floor/wall seam, along all four walls of the basement (three of which are outside walls and one is adjacent to a crawl space under the garage). This was the first time water had ever entered the basement in any noticeable quantity.
Since then, sometimes when it rains, water enters the basement along the seam again. I can look at the seam and see water trickling in. I opened the caps on the drain tile and saw that in some spots there appears to be water sitting in the pipe, which I assume is not desireable, though the pipe is not full or overflowing and the water does drain into the sump. The sump pump runs periodically and drains the sump.
I'm a little confused as to the origin of the problem, that I went from having an always dry basement to having an always wet basement. Not sure if the fact we've had so much rain here this year is highlighting a problem which always existed, or what.
Especially after reading some of the other forums here, I'd rather not just chase problems by hiring one contractor or another, especially one that is just an inside waterproofer. My first guess would be to hire a plumber to snake the drain tile, but I'm not sure whether I should also be worried that the wall/floor seam is as porous as it is. Any thoughts from someone who knows more than I do on this subject would be appreciated.
many of the inside water-diverting companies offer their supposed 'lifetime guarantee'...and its also, supposedly, transferrable. Did you hire whoever did the inside system and if not, when you bought the house, did the seller give you the paperwork/guarantee on the work that was done? Find out and call their butts back, thats what i`d do
Here are 'some' possibilities as to why you are getting water in along the cold joint....
...there may be imperfections/tiny lil openings on the outside where the wall sits on footing, yes...its possible and if so, can only be correctly repaired on outside.
... with THAT-amount of rain, the pump/the system cannot handle the VOLUME of water that gets under basement floors. Like you say, maybe the tile was put-in uneven or, its also possible the TILE they put in...settled, not all of it, someimes part-of-it. That will then lead to a possible back up in area where tile has settled which then could rise UP through any opening(s) along bottom of wall and floor. Many inside co`s LEAVE a gap, a spcae open along this cold joint and, imo, NOT a very smart thing to do, yeah yeah, they have their supposed good reasons, bs! lol
.... sump needs adjustment or, maybe too small of sump was put in.
....IF you have storm trap-cleanout, TRY having an 'honest-exp' plumber snake through it, may be a back up-blockage. Problem could also be originating from out by street.
....one more quickie, 'IF' you now have paneling/drywall agst wall, its possible water is entering through rod holes and/or cracks OR....through Above ground openings on that side of the house. Water could be running down wall BEHIND paneling and you ONLY see it come onto floor along cold joint/where wall `n floor meet.
