Water and path of least resistance

Shop deals on ebay
SpartanEpoxies
shop deals on amazon
House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
V

vinny186

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2009
Messages
312
Reaction score
52
I installed a radon fan in my basement to deal with a damp slab due to a missing vapor barrier under half the floor.

After I drilled a hole thru the floor I pulled out as much pea gravel under the slab as far as I could reach. After a day or so I saw some standing water in the hole but I hoped the pull from the radon fan would dry it out but that didn't happen.

My next move was to drill a hole near the bottom of the PVC pipe and pull out the water with a drill pump.

We just had a lot of rain over the past week and I was able to pull out about 4 1/2 gallons of water over a two day period.

Do you think I had so much water near the pvc pipe because I created a low spot?

20160512_211158.jpg
 
Water will find it's level in gravel , digging some gravel out would not make any difference to the water. This likely says more about the level of the perimeter drain than anything else.
 
Sounds like you need a sump pump not a radon fan.
 
I have a sump pump and it works as it should. Neal, are you saying the perimeter drain might not be low enough? The areas of the floor where I see no moisture after taping down plastic are the same areas where a vapor barrier exists. I've drilled several holes through the slab to check for a barrier and about half the room I built is without a VB.
 
It is all guess work, we see all kinds of variations on what is considered code here and different cities interpret them differently.
We have the barrier right below the concrete but some areas of the US have sand or other aggregate over it so to protect it from being damages while the concrete is being laid.
I the house is built on a hill say the front at street level and the back yard is much higher. The back footing will be just below slab level with the drain pipe siting on the footing and around front the footing will be lower to give it frost protection and the drain follows the footing to the lower level. That would allow water to find a level at the back just below the slab level and then the water will flow to the front.
I have always thought that was wrong and the back drain should be outside the footing. No telling what they have done at your house.
 
Just makes no since to expect a radon fan to get rid of the water.
I'd be spending my time and money outside trying to figure out why the waters getting in.
Got some pictures of the outside?
 
I appreciate the comments and advice but unless I dig up the foundation there's not much else I can do as the gutters are clean and downspouts empty far from the foundation.

Before I lay down some permanent wall to wall carpeting I'm going to put down some old strips of carpet, tape the sides and see if any moisture collects underneath.

A few areas that always failed the "taped plastic sheet" test have stayed dry since installing the fan so that's encouraging.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top