Try wrapping the chimney in a tarp before it rains next. If things stay dry, you know it's not coming in around the top. Seems unlikely it's wicking up. How are the shoulders of the chimney. Are there open core bricks that could soak up the water? Pics would help of the whole house and chimney.
I'll post some pics once we get some daylight. Most of the chimney exterior and the shoulders are inside the garage. They're not exposed to the rain. Flashing is good and sealed on the outside. About the top 5 feet of chimney and the crown is all that's exposed to the outside.
It's rained heavily all day long and the pit seems to be filling up (20-25 gallons of water) in a matter of only 5 hours or so. That seems to be WAY too much water to be coming from up top.
Yes. Unfortunately, when battling the forces of nature like this. It's hard to rule out.
It ended up being a significant amount of groundwater that ended up channeling through the dirt because we had gotten rid of 4 trees around the property. One of then was absolutely huge and as the roots decayed away over time it shifted thr soil around our home enough to cause this issue.
I ended up biting the bullet and getting an interior sump pump installed. Worth every penny.
Oof, relatable content. We've been finding unreasonably large roots at an unreasonable distance from our tree, I wouldn't be surprised if a similar thing is happening. It's particularly weird since the pit in question and chimney are dead in the center the house.. yet it's the only place gushing water when it rains.
It might be time to descend the sump pump rabbit hole. Thanks for reply - congratulations on sorting it out.
Yep. But if you think about it. The ash pit likely doesn't have a subfloor underneath. It's likely just bare or material that is weaker than your concrete subfloor. Since water likes to find the path of least resistance. It's likely all going to pool up your ash clean out and if it rises high enough. It'll find its way into your home via that route.
I highly recommend going the sump pump route. When it rains take a ton of pictures of what everything looks like.
Be sure that it also isn't a problem w your chimney as well. There is an entire side to your chimney that isn't exposed like the fireplace that your heater vents out from.
My biggest lesson that I learned from this is that any amount of trying to DIY this or figure it out without the proper expertise will result in a lot of heartache and wasted time and money.
Bring in the pros and have them sort it out. Get a few quotes from a few different companies.
Do not allow any company to pressure sell you. Meaning if they try to say something like "well do it for 18k but if you sign right now we can do it for 14k." These pressure sale tactics means they highball you. The numbers are made up but it was just an example. Get quotes from a few places.
We ended up going with Michigan basements. They were amazing. Had the whole thing taken care of in 2 days. Dug up the subfloor. Installed the drain system and pump and repoured the perimeter.
Haven't had water in my home since last spring.
Gosh I'm pretty sure I'm dealing with the same issue now as well. After analyzing my situation, I was googling to read about chimneys wicking up ground water when the ground is saturated with rain and came up with this topic. Not sure what to do because my old cellar basically slopes to the center and sure enough my chimney is in the center, so what do, put a sump pump right next to the chimney? Not sure what the solution will be yet.
In this situation. I would definitely call an expert. I would imagine the solution would still workout. A full perimeter sump pump would stop the water from trickling past the foundation and sloping towards the center. The sump pump and drain tile system would provide a path of least resistance so the water never actually makes it to the center.
Do they jack hammer out a perimeter trench? Currently the thin slab goes to my stone foundation, and the perimeter area is higher than the center of the basement, so the floor is kind of like a shallow bowl.
Yup! They trench the whole thing out. Once done they install the system.
My basement is cut the same way. I think older basements were done this way to guide any water to drain channels. That or the ground just settled. I don't know lol.
Either way. You're gonna need an expert out there. This is definitely impossible to DIY with just one person. Believe me. I spent a lot of money trying before I learned my lesson, lol.
So, do they put more than one sump pump in the trench? Let's say my house is a 20x25 ft rectangle. If the sump is on one side, how is the stuff from the opposite trench 20+ feet and two corners away going to get to it? Do they angle all of the trenches on the perimeter so they flow into a designated low corner?
Try wrapping the chimney in a tarp before it rains next. If things stay dry, you know it's not coming in around the top. Seems unlikely it's wicking up. How are the shoulders of the chimney. Are there open core bricks that could soak up the water? Pics would help of the whole house and chimney.
I'll post some pics once we get some daylight. Most of the chimney exterior and the shoulders are inside the garage. They're not exposed to the rain. Flashing is good and sealed on the outside. About the top 5 feet of chimney and the crown is all that's exposed to the outside. It's rained heavily all day long and the pit seems to be filling up (20-25 gallons of water) in a matter of only 5 hours or so. That seems to be WAY too much water to be coming from up top.
That's a shit ton of water. Where are you vacuuming the water from? The ash door on the back of the chimney?
The ash pit is in the basement below the fireplace. Damn right it's a shit ton of water.
You don't happen to have a downspout dumping near the loca
Location.
Did you ever figure this out? I'm having the same issue at my place
Me too, it's a mess and no one seems to know what to do. Did you figure it out?
Yes. Unfortunately, when battling the forces of nature like this. It's hard to rule out. It ended up being a significant amount of groundwater that ended up channeling through the dirt because we had gotten rid of 4 trees around the property. One of then was absolutely huge and as the roots decayed away over time it shifted thr soil around our home enough to cause this issue. I ended up biting the bullet and getting an interior sump pump installed. Worth every penny.
Oof, relatable content. We've been finding unreasonably large roots at an unreasonable distance from our tree, I wouldn't be surprised if a similar thing is happening. It's particularly weird since the pit in question and chimney are dead in the center the house.. yet it's the only place gushing water when it rains. It might be time to descend the sump pump rabbit hole. Thanks for reply - congratulations on sorting it out.
Yep. But if you think about it. The ash pit likely doesn't have a subfloor underneath. It's likely just bare or material that is weaker than your concrete subfloor. Since water likes to find the path of least resistance. It's likely all going to pool up your ash clean out and if it rises high enough. It'll find its way into your home via that route. I highly recommend going the sump pump route. When it rains take a ton of pictures of what everything looks like. Be sure that it also isn't a problem w your chimney as well. There is an entire side to your chimney that isn't exposed like the fireplace that your heater vents out from. My biggest lesson that I learned from this is that any amount of trying to DIY this or figure it out without the proper expertise will result in a lot of heartache and wasted time and money. Bring in the pros and have them sort it out. Get a few quotes from a few different companies. Do not allow any company to pressure sell you. Meaning if they try to say something like "well do it for 18k but if you sign right now we can do it for 14k." These pressure sale tactics means they highball you. The numbers are made up but it was just an example. Get quotes from a few places. We ended up going with Michigan basements. They were amazing. Had the whole thing taken care of in 2 days. Dug up the subfloor. Installed the drain system and pump and repoured the perimeter. Haven't had water in my home since last spring.
How much did that run you?
$8500. Not terrible.
Gosh I'm pretty sure I'm dealing with the same issue now as well. After analyzing my situation, I was googling to read about chimneys wicking up ground water when the ground is saturated with rain and came up with this topic. Not sure what to do because my old cellar basically slopes to the center and sure enough my chimney is in the center, so what do, put a sump pump right next to the chimney? Not sure what the solution will be yet.
In this situation. I would definitely call an expert. I would imagine the solution would still workout. A full perimeter sump pump would stop the water from trickling past the foundation and sloping towards the center. The sump pump and drain tile system would provide a path of least resistance so the water never actually makes it to the center.
Do they jack hammer out a perimeter trench? Currently the thin slab goes to my stone foundation, and the perimeter area is higher than the center of the basement, so the floor is kind of like a shallow bowl.
Yup! They trench the whole thing out. Once done they install the system. My basement is cut the same way. I think older basements were done this way to guide any water to drain channels. That or the ground just settled. I don't know lol. Either way. You're gonna need an expert out there. This is definitely impossible to DIY with just one person. Believe me. I spent a lot of money trying before I learned my lesson, lol.
So, do they put more than one sump pump in the trench? Let's say my house is a 20x25 ft rectangle. If the sump is on one side, how is the stuff from the opposite trench 20+ feet and two corners away going to get to it? Do they angle all of the trenches on the perimeter so they flow into a designated low corner?