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I bought his home in MN and moved in back in February. This is my first home and it was remodeled by a flipper. It’s now spring and has rained quite a bit the last few weeks. Last week, I discovered water seeping in through the foundation in an unfinished laundry room in the basement. It wasn’t necessarily flooded, but nevertheless water that needs to be taken care of.

All that leading to my real question, I found water above the seal to the back flow preventer in the small pit. I’m wondering if this is bad or normal? I twisted off the seal to release that water into the pipe, but it quickly fills back up when I put the seal back on.

backflow preventer in bathroom, above seal filled with water backflow preventer in bathroom, above seal filled with water

seal removed to drain water from pit seal removed to drain water from pit

water fills back up quickly after putting the seal back water fills back up quickly after putting the seal back

crack in the floor seeping water. This is adjacent to the bathroom with the backflow preventer crack in the floor seeping water. This is adjacent to the bathroom with the backflow preventer

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  • Is it flowing into the backflow preventer from the surface of your basement slab?
    – CrazyArm
    Commented May 2 at 18:56
  • unclog the pipes
    – DIY75
    Commented May 2 at 18:58
  • you have a different problem to fix. stop the water coming in from outside
    – DIY75
    Commented May 2 at 19:00
  • If the basement does not smell bad (except when you remove that lid), if water collects above the lid and flows quickly away when you remove it, then the valve assembly is doing its job, the water is not sewage, and you should just let this thing fill up and leave it alone while you figure out your storm water problem.
    – jay613
    Commented May 2 at 20:11
  • The "small pit" seems to be lined with hard plastic. how is the water getting in?
    – Jasen
    Commented May 3 at 4:24

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It has nothing to do with the backflow preventer, evidently. The hole in the floor is acting as a small sump pit with no pump.

So, the whole floor is wet, and water is flowing into the low spot. You'll find out if the flooring is really waterproof, or not.

You either need an actual sump pit with a pump, or exterior grading and perhaps also drains, or some method of reducing the ground water level at the house to below the floor. With a house already built, grading can help, but the sump pit (or more than one sump pit) is generally the most affordable approach other than just correcting the grade to slope away from the house for 10-12 feet. If you already have a sump with pump, it's not deep enough or not close enough to this part of the basement floor. Adding gutters or extending downspouts to get roof water away from the house can also be helpful.

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  • Yeah I was thinking fixing the grade would be my first solution. The grading on the side of the house where this bathroom is with the back flow preventer Slopes toward the street, but on the opposite side there’s a concrete sidewalk that slopes toward the house. I had planned on fixing it eventually but these issues have definitely expedited that to my top priority. Fortunately there’s a sump pit on that side that’s been running quite often. I installed a battery backup just in case and now I plan to regrade that concrete away and install a drain system alongside it to move water away.
    – Kirby
    Commented May 3 at 19:23

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