The incredible seeping floor

October 10, 2008 8:54 AM

Seeping (almost weeping) water from the floor in my basement suites bathroom. How do I fix this?

We moved into a basement suite, earlier this summer, and noticed that the floor "weeps". The more you stand on it, the more water comes through the tiles. Its enough to get your socks soaked all the way through. I have an electric radiator, and a de-humidifier running. The De-humidifier has been running all day everyday for the past couple of days. It doesn't seem to be sucking the water up.

My plan was to rip up the tiles, and get concrete sealer, and then put down new tiles. I have no real experience doing any sort of home repairs. My father in law will be helping me, and he has some experience.

I'm just worried that its growing more mold than I can see down there. The shower is dry (no seeping water).

Would that work? Whats the thoughts of the askmeta hive mind?

posted by edmcbride to health & fitness (9 comments total)

You can have the flooring redone (they put rock under it), or a sump pump (or multiple ones).

You own or rent?

The sump pump would be cheaper, but I wouldn't want to sleep next to one.

I doubt sealing it will do much of anything, but I only listen to home repair shows on the radio, so am no expert. The two options I gave are what they always talk about.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:06 AM on October 10, 2008

If there's enough water pressure under there that it's coming up through the slab, concrete sealer will be a band-aid and the water will find its way up through some other spot. You need to find out where the water is coming from (water table? storm swell?) and try to manage it that way. If it's just a high water table, there's not going to be a lot you can do. It could also be a leak from some other source in the house that's getting under the tiles.

Any serious attempt to solve it will probably require more than just redoing the flooring. Tearing out the slab and installing a sump pump somewhere in the basement, or putting in footer drains (which still need to drain somewhere themselves, like a sump).

Do you own or rent? If it's a rental, this is way more work/money than you probably want to put into it. Installing a sump isn't terribly difficult, but it's a fair bit of work if you do it yourself.

If you own the place, consider getting a plumber to take a look at it and see what he/she thinks is the problem. Find someone who works with footer drains/leaky basements in particular. Good luck!
posted by Pantengliopoli at 9:20 AM on October 10, 2008

You don't know the cause yet. It may be groundwater seeping in. If it is, it's likely that this has been an ongoing problem in the past. If it has been particularly wet/rainy it might be a seasonal thing and it might vary from year to year.

If it is truly completely localized to the bathroom that might be a little weird for groundwater seepage. Every case I've encountered if the basement is below the groundwater level, seepage occurs in multiple places, though it can definitely be localized, I've never come across it coming up in just one spot. This is just a half dozen cases, though, and I'm no expert - but I think you should investigate other possible causes before you take any serious action based on the assumption that it is seeping through from the ground.

Decent thread on water in the basement here.

I agree with the sentiment that sealing alone won't fix a groundwater problem. If your floor is below the groundwater level hydrostatic pressure is pushing water through the floor and it will find a way in. To get rid of that pressure a sump pump is required.

It could be a plumbing issue, like the wax seal on your toilet has degraded and you're leaking water every time you flush, or some other type of slow leak. In your position I'd start by looking for obvious signs of a leak (signs of wetness, water damage, visible leaking from the pipes under the sink, water staining around the base of the toilet) and talk to the owner/prior owner/prior tenant if possible about whether this was an ongoing problem. If I couldn't ID the problem I'd call in a plumber. If a plumbing issues were definitively ruled out I'd start investigating basement waterproofing. If I were renting I'd be pushing my landlord to deal with it because it is his/her legal responsibility.
posted by nanojath at 9:50 AM on October 10, 2008

Incidentally, dehumidifiers and electric radiators are serious energy vampires. Prepare to be shocked by your utility bill if you keep these things running 24/7 for a long period.
posted by nanojath at 9:52 AM on October 10, 2008

If you are renting, you really need to get the landlord involved. Water leaking into the living space is a potential health hazard, which is something a responsible landlord doesn't want to get cited for.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:59 AM on October 10, 2008

n'thing sump pump. We have a combined sump pump/French drain system; our basement only gets wet when something else goes wrong (plumbing, eyyyah). And our neighborhood is known for its wet ground.

Another possibility: how old is your house? We have a down pipe that was draining from the roof into an old ceramic pipe system under the basement stairs. The pipe cracked. Shenanigans ensued.
posted by media_itoku at 10:35 AM on October 10, 2008

More info from Mrs. Edmcbride...

The "suite" is the in-law apartment in the basement of my mother's house. The house is on a hill, and yes, the water is localized to the bathroom. As far as we can see, there's nothing burst and dripping, but there's enough water under the tiles that when our barely 2lb ferret walks across them, she gets wet.


The shower stall isn't used at all; we go upstairs and use the full size one, so it's not leftover from the daily showers, and the sink is used only for brushing our teeth (and I've not seen it leaking). Generally the "weeping" is localized to the 6 square feet of space in the bathroom, however in the 3 months we've lived down here it has spread out to the area directly outside the bathroom door.


I believe the house was built in the 50's.
posted by chickygrrl at 4:06 PM on October 10, 2008

I've found the source of the water - the toilet leaks from the tank, way the hell out of site unless you crouch down and check things out with a flashlight. I'm assuming we fix the toilet, we fix the seeping floor.
posted by chickygrrl at 6:27 PM on October 10, 2008

Excellent -- that's the cheapest fix of them all. Might be worth checking the wax ring under the toilet as well, but the tank is an easy fix.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 12:57 AM on October 11, 2008