Hi everyone,
I have been living in my home over 10 years now (since new) and my concrete basement floor has heaved badly in the last 3 years. To the point where I'm going to have the floor removed and repoured. I've done a bit of reading on this problem and discover that drainage (lack of) seemed to be the number one problem. I have a sump pit that seemed to work fine or at least up until 3 years ago when one day I went to check the pump (cause I hadn't heard it run for a long time)and found the pit full of water.(to the top) After checking I realized the pump was dead. I'm sure it wasn't running all winter long. I installed a new pump, but too late, my floor seemed to go bad after that point on. There may be a lesson here for someone out there!

I have contractor that’s going to the job. He plans to install 2 sump pits, claiming that it will insure the best drainage possible. (Hope he's right) The other option he's giving me is to do the job in the summer or winter. Winter will save me $2500.00. Were I live it gets down to -30C. I would like to do the job in the winter to save the extra cash.

My question is, should do it in the winter? Is there a potential for moisture problems, or any other problems that could come up as a result of pouring in the winter.

Your comments would greatly be appreciated.
Thank you

Have you looked into the house warranty program? Moving floors such as this is often covered.
I have some conserns about this heaving. It should not have happened. Simply installing a pump system within the basement will not solve the reason for the extream movement. Yes water can cause issues. But typically not to the extent that the floor moves. It usually comes up through the floor and ponds on top. Very rarely does it build up enough pressure to heave the floor. If the water has undermined the floor and caused it to drop. Then you should be having more concerns with the foundation.
I would get a engineers prospective on this before you spend any money. As far as an inside pump system. Do not waste your money. They are simply there to divert water away. It does not stop it from coming in. You need to be installing an outside water PROOFING system not inside deversion system.
Also check with your homeowners insurance if there is no warranty. They should cover the costs of the floor but not the replacement of the pump if your convinced that this was the issue.

To answer your question. No does not make any diffrence if its done summer or winter. As long as the basement has some sort of heat to keep it above freezing.

I don't know what region you are in, but many areas of the country have expansive clay soils, and I suspect that might be the cause of your floor heaving. These soils can expand a lot when they become saturated with water. In some areas, they pour the floor in sections, so that if one heaves, they only need to repair the one section. Water alone will not make a floor slab heave. I agree with Home Care Club, an interior water diversion system will not solve a water problem, and the place to attack that issue is outside where the water comes from, and where you want it to stay.

First of all thank you for the quick response.

Second I don’t think I painted a clear picture of the conditions of my problem. Just to be clear, I had never had any visible water (leakage) in my basement. Just the floor heaving. I don’t think it was water alone that heaved my basement. I believe that Richard Hetzel may be closer to the root of my problem. (Expansive clay soils)(Saturated soil)

I live near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. We have soil that we like to call Manitoba gumbo. It’s mostly made up of clay/silt and black plastic heavy clay. Anyone from Manitoba would know the stuff. This may be the type of soil that Richard Hetzel was trying to refer to. If this is true…what now? Would this clay keep on expanding even if I had 2 sump pit installed? Another point is that I don't hear the pump working all that much during the summer months, only after heavy rains. And maybe once or twise during the Winter.Do you think this is normal?

I’m going to look into what you suggested Home Care Club and get an engineer’s prospective. Our house warrant program ran out 5 years ago. I believe it was only good for 5 years. I most certainly will look into my home insurance policy. Thanks for the tip.
Could you also point me towards the outside water proofing system you had mentioned?

Thanks

For all you need to know about outside waterproofing, read the thousands of posts by LicensedWaterproofR and LicensedWaterproofer on this forum...same dude, he just changed names. They are long, it's true, but many are illustrated with photographs of his own waterproofing projects, and they are entertaining reading.