Condensation on foundation walls

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drewdin

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Hi Guys,

It rained like crazy here yesterday, I went to check the basement and sure enough there is water in a few spots.

The weird thing is that the water is not coming in from a crack or seeping through the floor, I can see the beads of water forming on the walls and drooling down to the floor.

I have never seen this before, its only in 4 spots. The spots are about 1-2 feet off the floor.

There isnt a ton of water but there is abot a 2-3 foot radius on the floor where its moist.

What can I do to fix this? Thanks
 
Hi Nealtw, i havent tried anything. do I just dig down and use a waterproof type paint or sealer? Thanks
 
I would think digging to find the water table first, checking the perimeter drain and see what the problem is there first. If the drains are free and running the problem might be clay type soil not letting water to get there. Depending on what foundation is, all concrete walls have steel of one type or another that held the forms together, if they weren't sealed properly, sooner or later they rust out and leak. All the sealing in the world won't keep water out, the basement isn't like a swimming pool, so you need to get rid of the water too.
 
the house is from 1927 so I have a fieldstone foundation. I have to say the wet spots are about ~5 feet deep to the top soil so there would be a ton of digging. It was humid outside but the basement was rather cool.
 
Could be condensation but ususaly dosn't show up in a locallized zone, were the cold water pipes dripping with water.
 
Do you have CMU's for the walls that the bottom rows are filled cells with water, condensing through to inside, where are you?

Gary
PS. answer #5 first... thanks!
 
GBR -

The foundation walls are field stone (built 1927), so you can expect variable results depending on the local wall and exterior conditions in addition to conditions interior air conditions.

Condensing comes from warm moist air on a cold surface.

Dick
 
it was literally dripping down the walls in a few spots. Whats a CMU?

The main poop pipe is half pvc and half cast iron. Its in one corner of the room where the dripping is, the cast iron pipe is condensing.
 
The foundation is field stone, thats where the condensation is occurring. I do have CMU's on the addition but those are fine.

So im not sure what to do to get the condensing to stop if possible. thanks
 
If this is happenning is local spots and not the entire wall, that part of the wall must be leaking or it is colder than the rest of the wall, sound like high water table on the other side.
 
I have lived in and with field stone foundations most of my life. They were the best they had to work with 100 years ago and most of the time they never were water tight. If the water got in right after a heavy rain I would say it was most likely the rain and secondly the condensation. Some of the stones can appear to be sweating if water is working its way in around or thru them.

Before I started digging I would do a few above ground inspections. First is drain pipes from the gutters. The more you can get the water away from the foundation the better. The second thing to look at is grading. Old houses have a way of getting lots of stuff growing around the foundation walls and with lawns building up outside the landscaping you might have water collection points near the walls. Old plantings close to the foundations will also work roots down into the cracks of the field stones.

I had a water tank rust out and fail that was a good 4 feet from the outer wall. When I removed the tank I couldn’t believe my eyes but tree roots had come under the basement floor and up thru cracks and entered the bottom of the tank looking for water.

Rule out all the simple things first before digging. Then decide what you want to use the basement space for. Sometimes a sump and a few drain lines and a dehumidifier gets the job done. The correct repair if you want the space as a living area could be very expensive.
 

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