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It's Not Always the Wall Cracks

May 8, 2019

Sump Pump Overwhelmed?

A sump pump in a basement with a hose attached to it.

I recently inspected this crawl space for water sources. The crawl is divided into three parts under three joined condominiums. All three have water in them, and all 3 have cracks and holes that water could leak in through the foundation.

But I don't think those are the primary sources of the water! Yes, each crack and water line surround showed a bit of staining characteristic of a leaky foundation wall. There is a bit of water coming in there. But the pattern of water on the floor, and the stains from the water suggest something different. The largest area of water is in the middle unit in the middle of the floor, nowhere near the cracks. This is obviously a low spot, since water congregates there. And it's where the sump pump sits. I happen to know this site, as I have stopped leaks in a number of other crawl spaces in this development. But in this case, I think that the sump pump could not keep up, the sump hole over flowed, and the water spread through all three units.

So the first action they should take is to have the sump pump checked, along with the lines leading away from pump. This is not work that I perform. They may eventually have me come in to do those cracks, but the bigger bang for their buck probably comes from replacing the sump pump and cleaning out the water lines that the sump drains int.

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