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My husband and I have no idea what to do next. Our basement keeps seeping water from the fireplace and the wall next to the fireplace. We’ve had to remove the cupboards from the back wall behind the fireplace because the seepage was causing mold.

We’ve had people come out and originally it was thought to be a roof issue. We replaced our entire roof but it is still leaking.

We have a new sump pump that is routed 30 feet away from the house. We had a plumber come and snake one of the drain pipes that wasn’t flowing. Both pipes are now flowing into the sump but the water is still leaking out.

We have gutters and have added on gutter extenders.

My husband removed bricks from the fireplace so we could try and see where the water comes from. We can’t figure it out. It just keeps coming. We drilled into the cement on the backside of the fireplace but can’t tell from the back either.

We’ve had record rains this year so I’m guessing that plays a part. But it’s been a month and we don’t know what to do anymore. We can’t leave the house for more than a day because we need to vacuum water, exchange towels, etc.

Any advice would be so appreciated!!! We’re so stressed and don’t want to keep digging ourselves into a financial hole.

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  • How is the drainage situation surrounding the problem area? Is it a low spot, like the bottom of a hill, is the soil graded away from the wall? I'm not an expert here but it sounds like a drainage issue to me. A lot of grading / gravel / drain work goes into a well constructed building, yours may benefit from some of that. Would help to clarify fireplace's height relative to grade.
    – nmr
    Commented Jul 1 at 18:01
  • Got any gutters?
    – Huesmann
    Commented Jul 2 at 13:18

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You seem to have eliminated roof runoff as a primary cause, and you've established that your sump pump is apparently working as the system was designed. What you haven't addressed is whether the sump drain circuit includes the area that's allowing water to enter the foundation, or whether the water table is just so high that it's overwhelming the system.

We aren't going to be able to do anything but take more guesses from here. You need someone on site to examine the drainage system and make recommendations. You may also need to consider excavating and installing waterproofing and drainage on the foundation walls.

Regarding your initial steps, a roof never affects the basement unless it's full of giant holes and water is running through the house. Replacing it wasn't an effective strategy for the basement water problem. Also, gutters are important, but they do nothing if you don't have adequate slope around the entire foundation. If there's puddling at the wall, you'll have problems.

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