We live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, so it's chilly at times!
We've owned our house 6 years, and regraded the front and side of the house (neglected by previous owner) for proper drainage away from the house.
A few years in, the main stack (located in the basement at the side of the house) started leaking clean water all year round from its base. We had the city come to look at it, and they said that it wasn't clogged and water was running properly. He really didn't have any other advice.
So, we wrapped a towel around the base, and changed it regularly - the summer maybe once every few days, the cold winters twice a day.
2 years ago, part of our fence needed to be replaced, and as soon as we tore the deck out, it was obvious where the water was coming from. There was no gravel or drainage underneath, the deck wasn't even touching two of the blocks, and the soil was graded well towards the house - a disaster deck!
So we had a couple tons of gravel delivered, graded, built a new fence and deck, and the first winter was dry. No more summer issues.
This winter has been chilling - -30 degrees Celsius on average for the last few weeks.
And the main stack has started seeping clean water again. Leaving us to change the towel 2-3 times a day.
I assume it's frozen (we had this in another house, and the main stack also froze where the sump pump area was). Is there any way to prevent this from happening?
Would cleaning the weeping tile in the spring time help? (it didn't leak last spring during torrential rains - 4 x the amount in 2017 vs the average for our area!), as there really aren't any pipes inside we can insulate that I can think of to preventing this from occuring.
Thankfully it's in the unfinished part, but the house is only 25 years old, and I really don't want digging to go on in the basement if it's something underneath.
the pipe appears intact and has no cracks from a visual inspection. Water seeps from the bottom.
Thanks in advance!
We've owned our house 6 years, and regraded the front and side of the house (neglected by previous owner) for proper drainage away from the house.
A few years in, the main stack (located in the basement at the side of the house) started leaking clean water all year round from its base. We had the city come to look at it, and they said that it wasn't clogged and water was running properly. He really didn't have any other advice.
So, we wrapped a towel around the base, and changed it regularly - the summer maybe once every few days, the cold winters twice a day.
2 years ago, part of our fence needed to be replaced, and as soon as we tore the deck out, it was obvious where the water was coming from. There was no gravel or drainage underneath, the deck wasn't even touching two of the blocks, and the soil was graded well towards the house - a disaster deck!
So we had a couple tons of gravel delivered, graded, built a new fence and deck, and the first winter was dry. No more summer issues.
This winter has been chilling - -30 degrees Celsius on average for the last few weeks.
And the main stack has started seeping clean water again. Leaving us to change the towel 2-3 times a day.
I assume it's frozen (we had this in another house, and the main stack also froze where the sump pump area was). Is there any way to prevent this from happening?
Would cleaning the weeping tile in the spring time help? (it didn't leak last spring during torrential rains - 4 x the amount in 2017 vs the average for our area!), as there really aren't any pipes inside we can insulate that I can think of to preventing this from occuring.
Thankfully it's in the unfinished part, but the house is only 25 years old, and I really don't want digging to go on in the basement if it's something underneath.
the pipe appears intact and has no cracks from a visual inspection. Water seeps from the bottom.
Thanks in advance!
