Hi. I’ve a real mystery going on. My ground floor is partly below grade, backed into a slope. It’s a poured concrete slab surrounded by a quadlock foundation. The slab is painted, and has in-floor heating, and the ground floor is supposed to be finished living space (although I use it for my shop).
Every six days without fail about 8 gallons of water floods in over the slab from the uphill wall. This has been happening like clockwork since last fall — almost six months now. When I started keeping track on a calendar, I discovered the amazing regularity. Every 144 hours the water comes in all at once (within a couple of minutes); it is completely dry between these floods. I pick the water up with a big sponge, and can count how many times I empty the one-gallon bucket.
There are two mysteries: where is the water coming from, and why does it pile up for six days then come in all at once. My well is uphill from the house; there is a perimeter drain around the foundation, with a vertical stub along that uphill wall (I expect for an eventual connection to gutters).
My most recent theory was that there is a slow leak in my water line, and some problem with the perimeter drain that some way fills up then breaks through all at once. But yesterday I finally stuck a hose down that vertical stub and watched it come cleanly out the daylight exit of the perimeter drain.
Any ideas???
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quadlock foundation - is that some form of ICF?
Exactly where is the water comming into the room. Through the foundation? At the slab/foundation wall junction? Through the slab?
And is the footing stepped? Since it is wall out you need a a below frost footing, but if the up hill side is higher then the footing can be higher?
Trying to figure out where the footing and drain is in relation to the level of the slab.
Might want to get some test hole drilled up hill of the house.
With that regularity I am guessing that the source of the water is either a leak in the well supply line or a spring.
If ICF means 'insulated concrete foundation' or something, then yes. (I'm a sort of handy homeowner, not a builder.)
I don't know if the footing is stepped. I bought the house after the exterior was finished; but I do have pictures of early construciton. The quadlock walls are certainly stepped, and I expect the footings underneath are as well.The water seems to come in at the slab/foundation junction. The walls are sheetrocked inside, ending 1/2 inch or so above the slab, and there is no indication of any moisture in the walls.But I think you are on to something: I just put a stick down that vertical piece of the perimeter drain (on the uphill, leaky side of the house), and the joint with the horizontal drain (it is perf pipe, not tile) seems to be only about 15 inches below grade, which would put it at last a foot or two above the slab. The water line comes up through the slab (no water comes in around it), so the line is certainly way below the perimeter drain.That's probably where it is coming from. Now, why doesn't it come in a drop at a time?Thanks!
If ICF means 'insulated concrete foundation'
does knowing them as insulated concrete forms instead of foundation color the picture any differently????
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Edited 4/15/2006 5:54 pm by IMERC
Someone uses a shower every six days?
Something is filling up steadily and at a certain water level, the bubble pops from the wieght of the water and it comes gushing out. This means that a vacuum is created which requires a closed end. Could there be a water line that was capped off for later use?
Being such a regular occurance, I think it is created by a human construction. Or your house is built over a cousin of the geyser Old Faithful.
Frankie
There he goes—one of God's own prototypes—a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live and too rare to die.
—Hunter S. Thompson
from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Well, Old Faithful didn't blow for the first two years I lived here! And it doesn't matter whether I do 8 loads of wash & shower every day, or am gone for most of the week. 144 hours.
When it happens, does your TV go all static like and display a picture of an old well?
Watched any peculiar video tapes lately?
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
144 hours.
Is it clean water...
or smell a little gross?
Do you have a water softener that is timed to regenerate and flush every six days? If so, where is it and where does the waste pump to?
I DO have some sort of iron remover that backwashes every once in a while. I haven't a clue how it works; the previous owner left me with no manuals, and there isn't even a nameplate on it. I understand that it is magnetic; just pulls the iron out and every once in a while shuts off the magnet and washes out. However, I just poured about two gallons down its drain (it is just a hose hooked over a pipe like a washing machine or dishwasher drain), and nothing has come out on the floor.
I DO have some sort of iron remover that backwashes every once in a while.
When these things flush, they use a lot more than 2 gallons of water. Could this device be draining somewhere other than into your plumbing waste line ? Can you unplug it so it doesn't flush for a while ?
carpenter in transition
It looks like it goes into my septic system; in fact, after it passes a trap, it goes into a six-or-so inch pipe that forms a Y with drains from upstairs.But I think you folks are on to something. I tried to find the unit on-line, and found something similar, and read a little about it. The specs say it takes 60 gallons to flush; I'm now thinking this is the last eight gallons of that 60. I could certainly tape the outflow pipe (a flexible 1/2 inch) into an elevated garden hose, and run the end outside. Certainly beats digging up my whole drain!!
Now it's beginning to look like you have another potential problem to look at.
<<It looks like it goes into my septic system>>
You've already determined your perimeter drains go to daylight so that's not the problem.
The 60 gallons flushed from your rust removal unit should normally not be enough to cause overflow from the septic system.
However, if that is where the flush is going, and the timing of the leak coincides with the timing of the flush, then it's conceivable that 52 gallons is the tipping point and your system (leach field) cannot distribute or absorb the septic tank outflow fast enough. There's the potential problem.
I don't know what the full to the top capacity of your tank might be and it would seem that it should be much more than 60 gallons, considering that the outflow is probably more than a foot below the top of the tank, but if the outflow or the field has failed then your tank could be to the brim waiting for that final 60 gallons every 144 hours.