In this episode, Adam explains how he detected, diagnosed, and fixed a leaky pipe penetration.
Narrator: It’s time once again for the “Crack Man Podcast” hosted by A1 Foundation Crack Repair. I’m Darren Kincaid here with the Crack Daddy himself, Adam Tracy. Adam and The Crack Man Rich have over 30 years’ experience in the construction industry. Rich as over two5 years as the president and founder of A1 Foundation Crack Repair. This podcast provides expert basement waterproofing, concrete repair, and preventative maintenance tips for homeowners and businesses. A1 Foundation’s valuable insight will help avert a disastrous flood within the basement, health problems associated with water infiltration, and protect your biggest investment….your home. The topic of today’s podcast: Do I have a leaky pipe in my basement, or is it something else?
Narrator: So, Adam, you've got another interesting case study for us today about a mysterious pipe leak. What can you tell us about it?
Adam: Yeah. This is one that we've heard several times in the past. So it followed the typical path of understanding for us and the customer, but they had to go through the ring or a little bit to find out what the cause of it was.
This particular case study comes out of Worcester, Massachusetts. It's a house that was built probably around 20 to 25 years ago. Concrete foundation. They have a sewer line that goes through the foundation wall about midway up the wall and a large rainstorm that came through. They went downstairs to do laundry the following day, found a big puddle on the floor, and it was all kind of right around the sewer pipe that went out to the outside.
They have a big puddle on the floor, not sure what's going on. So, the first thing they do, and probably rightfully so, is call their plumber. Call a plumber in, have the plumber come and inspect the line. We'll come to find out the line's good. There are no issues going there. There are no breaks in the pipe. There's no cracks in the line. So it looked like it was coming from the pipe, but it wasn't coming from that pipe itself.
The next phone call they made was to the city DPW to make sure there wasn't a broken line on the outside. The town was able to come in and investigate, and they said, no. Not an issue. So, they were kind of really unsure as to where this water came from. The plumbing was good on the inside. There's no plumbing issues or town city issues on the outside. What's happening?
On a whim, they called us as a foundation expert and said, hey. This is what we have going on here. What do you think it is? And, you know, they sent over a couple photos, and you could see around the pipe penetration this white chalkiness that kind of started to develop around the pipe. And we said, jeez. You know what? I bet you it's leaking around the pipe. And they were really confused. And they said, well, how can it leak around the pipe? What we had to explain to them is that when that pipe goes through the foundation, there's a hole that they've cored that's going to be larger than the pipe diameter itself. Maybe it's a half inch, maybe less, sometimes it's more. And so they pack it on both sides with a hydraulic cement.
You typically see a darker color cement material on the inside. And over the years, in this case, 20 to 25 years, that freezing and thawing cycle where the pipe expands and contracts, the concrete expands and contracts, it breaks down that seal that they have around the pipe.
We said, here's a very simple test. It's dry today. You have no water coming in. They said, “No, we don't have any water coming in”. On the outside, find roughly where it is. Put a garden hose on the ground and let it run for 15, 20 minutes. Turn it off, let it rest for a little bit and then run it again. And sure enough, after about 15 minutes of water in the exterior, they see the water coming in around the pipe.
This is an immediate indication to them that it's not a plumbing issue. It's not a line broken underneath the ground. It's actually an issue with the foundation. And so once we were able to help diagnose that with them, it's a really simple fix. They thought we'd have to dig out the foundation and do all sorts of major excavation. The reality is we can do this all from the inside out.
There was no need to do any heavy digging, getting excavators in. We're able to expose that joint around the pipe, put in our waterproofing material that goes all the way out to the soil, fully seal that pipe from the inside of the concrete, then we recap it on the inside, and it came with a 10-year warranty.
They were very happy. Next rain that came through, not a drip or a drop, not even a wet mark on the wall. They were very excited, very happy to be able to solve the problem. Very happy to solve the problem without any disruption to the outside because a week later, they had friends and family coming in for the holidays, and they didn't want to have a giant hole taped off with caution tape as if people were entering through the front door. So, they were very happy.
Everything was solved, in and out, no problems, and it was a good case study for people to know that it may be a plumbing issue, but a lot of times these foundation issues around the pipes are water leaking from the foundation seal itself and not the actual pipe.
Narrator: Well, thanks, Adam, for explaining how you detected, diagnosed, and fixed a leaky pipe penetration.
Narrator: If you have a basement water problem and think you need a professional, or, if you’d like more information on foundation crack repair and basement waterproofing topics, please visit A1FoundationCrackRepair.com or call (866) 929-3171. Or you can email info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.