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Just purchased a century home last fall. The unfinished basement sees a decent amount of water ingress, but the floor drain has kept it from flooding. However, in the middle of the basement is a concrete pillar which houses the ash pit for the fireplace directly above. One side of this pillar has quite a bit of efflorescence and spalling--the worst in the basement, in fact. The center of the spalling is probably three feet off the ground, and the efflorescence is just a soft white powder that shows up behind the spalling. (I can't see any efflorescence on the surface since the surface was painted.)

Efflorescence and spalling come from water intrusion, right? Then what are they doing up off the ground on an isolated, interior pillar? Does this indicate that there's a roof leak or some other source of water coming down from above? Or is it just a result of being 100 years old in a damp basement?

EDIT: Photos

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  • You wrote efflorescence so I assume you tested that the white stuff is some kind of salt? Is the water damage from sea water? Otherwise I have no idea where that much salt would come from.
    – quarague
    Commented Jan 31 at 11:32
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    What is a "century" home? Is that a local/national home builder? Is that supposed to be "mid-century modern", Is that "century old"?
    – FreeMan
    Commented Jan 31 at 14:12
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    @quarague I bet it's coming from the ash pit. Wood ash is 25+% calcium carbonate, which is a salt.
    – MackM
    Commented Jan 31 at 14:20
  • @FreeMan Just means its over 100 years old.
    – Jordan Kizer
    Commented Feb 1 at 20:41

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A picture would help, but just from your description, water is likely coming down the fireplace's chimney, then down to the ash pit. It could be coming down inside of the chimney if the cover has a hole in it. It could also be coming down the outside of the chimney, if there is a problem with the flashing.

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    I second this - I have a chimney which soaks up water like a sponge. It rotted out the subfloor underneath the hearth and there's efflorescence all down the basement block wall below, even though the top of the chimney is capped. I've recently put a coat of clear brick/masonry sealer all over the outside of the chimney and that's made a huge difference. Plan to put another coat or 2 on once the weather warms up a little.
    – brhans
    Commented Jan 31 at 1:10

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