Expert: Dan Griffin - 4/8/2010

Question
Dear Sir,

I don't know if you can help w/ this.  If you can't perhaps you could steer me in the right direction.  I simply don't know who to ask for advice!

I live in near 100 year old house in the northeast of the US.  We have had a very tough winter/spring- a lot of snow and rain and thus a lot of flooding.  I have been running a pump in my basement constantly for two months now.  I have a fist-sized hole in the concrete floor where an old pipe protrudes upward.  I believe it may have once been a drain for a washing machine.  Anyway, water has been bubbling up through this hole for two months.  The rate of flow is high and if my pump were to fail or if were we to have a power outage, I would have a serious problem.  I tried to use hydrolic cement to plug the hole but it just turns to mush.  I am hoping that eventually the water table will drop and I'll be able to fill it w/ hydrolic cement when its dry, but I don't know when or if the water table will ever drop!  Is there anyway to repair this hole to stem this dramatic flow of water?

Sincerely,

Steve

Answer
Steve, I think my prime concern would have to be where the hole/pipe was going.  You might be able to insert a sewer cable and listen carefully to see if there were any way to diagnose by listening for a rattling sound as the cable runs.  There are plumbing companies that have sewer cameras who could follow the camera head to see where it is headed.  I say all this as I feel it would be best to cut and seal the pipe outside your house if that is possible.  Once the pipe is cut and sealed (hopefully outdoors) you could shatter the top of the pipe and plug the hole.  If the water is coming from the pipe and not the gap between the pipe and the concrete, then you need to find the other end of the pipe or at least where it is once outside the house and deal with it there.  If the water is just coming out of the pipe, get a test plug at a plumbing supply house.  This is a source:
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/testing.html
This will stop the immediate problem, but leave the potential for problems, it would still be best to cut and seal outside.


If the ground water is truly as high as the bottom of your basement slab, there are other problems.  Does the ground slope away from your house in all directions?  Do you have gutters, and if so, do the downspouts get well away from the foundation?  Make sure you do not have flower beds or plantings against the foundation.  Make sure that surface water gets well away from the house.

Total dependence on a single electric pump is not good. There are back up and redundant pump systems that might be considered.