Water table trapped inside a concrete loading bearing wall cavity- that is under a living area 1

[FWika]

Hello all and appreciate any insight and knowledge ahead of your replies.

2 years ago we purchased a 20-year-old Central hole colonial home in New Jersey.
Last eeek we had the flooring replaced in the front of the home, first level.
Upon our contractor removing the old flooring he came upon the two final areas which are two foot by two foot closets that are on both sides of the centered front door, he discovered heavy water and termite damaged underlayment and plywood.
These closets and front door area have an exterior brick facade that is supported by concrete hollow block which go down to the footings 8'.
After termite in spectors as well as Servpro have come here the same consensus is what I discovered which is a heavy amount of humidity being emitted from these hollow cavities.
There's no ventilation anywhere in the concrete block but there is a rising water table specifically on the left side closet Hall which elevates to approximately 10 in of water yet does not rise.
Because of the lack of ventilation this cavity simply leads all the humid damp air which then has attracted the termites to the underside of a habitableliving space plywood.
We have filed an insurance claim though they may not be able to do much they are sending over a structural engineer to ensure that the termites have not caused enough damage to the existing TJI joists.
with the expectation that insurance will not be able to help us that much I'm looking for advice in how these 24x24x96-in cavities can and should be handled.
my Hope was to possibly fill with 3/4-in stone and/or sand and cap off with 4 in of concrete but I worry that the displacement of water will cause the water to enter other areas specifically the foundation wall or our new finish basement.
Another idea I had was to create a ventilation on the exterior of the front patio and cap off the cavity with plastic, metal and finally pressure treated wood layers so that it no longer effects the new plywood and flooring I plan to finish in the closets.

Any other aspects that perhaps I am not considering or how to best address these oddly opened cavities would be greatly appreciated by you fellow folks.

See 3 photos included as a pdf.

 

[r13]

The attached file can't be opened, please check the file name and type saved. I think you have to get the ground water under control first.

 

[3DDave]

There is a "comma" in the file name, but it worked OK for me.

 

[FWika]

R13

I believe this to be the water table.
After utilizing a sump-pump eject the water via standard hose, it rid 10" in about a min.
Unfortunately as of this morning the cavity has begin rising again last seen was 2".
I am unsure if we will be able to alleviate this due to being 8' below grade.

 

[FWika]

I will post photos rather than in off format, but it appears only one upload per response allowed.

 

[oldestguy]

Worked for me also.

 

[oldestguy]

If this is ground water that keeps coming, sure a sump pump works,but what about power outages and pump failing, etc. I'd contact a civil engineer who has geotech experience. Dewatering permanently sometimes is difficult to fix and you may need an expert in these matters.

 

[FWika]

Oldestguy-

Might hope is to cap off this water column and not allow the humidity to infiltrate the home living space via plywood.
through 20 years the home had no water come into its basement which after we moved in we waited an extra year and just finished it.

 

[oldestguy]

Regardless of elsewhere no water, that expert my well be money well spent. I've seen some crazy water things and the fix is not always clear.

 

[r13]

I got it. The water damage is severe, it'll require a lot of information to be able to help. Better to find a local civil/structural engineer to assess the conditions, and provide pointed solutions.

 

[r13]

The image you just uploaded looks much better than the PDF. You can load multiple images in a thread, just repeat click on the "Image" button, and load one at a time. Is the wood floor shown is the first floor entrance? What is the white deposit on the floor? Do you know what are those two closets for, can you burry them?

 

[FWika]

I will post additional photos. Thank you for the note on multiple photos.
The white at the edge of the photo is the playwood (spray painted years ago) of the foyer area. These latter photos are after 2 days of dehumidification and cleaning. The initial issues was termites but it seems the water and rotted wood attracted them per two different companies.

 

[FWika]

 

[r13]

Please keep loading the photos, see if we can connect them to make sense out of them. A few questions on photos below, please answer the best you can.

 

[FWika]

Answers to your quesrions..

Yes to foyer.

Shaft which seems to have been improperly built. As a facade support with no backfill

The purpose are 2 rain coat closets.

All joists are TJI engineered 12"
The intermediary tji in the picture is only purpose was for flooring support per an architect friend of mine.

Shaft..I assess to poor installation practice to have an unfinished/unfilled column rise up to finished , habitable floor

My expectations would have been to fill either with stone or the supporting bearing column for the brick facade could have been done in a shorter height perhaps only two or three blocks with an additional footing and backfilled quickly I'm not quite sure why these wind walls are 8 ft deep,

 

[kipfoot]

I'd suggest that you figure out the relationship between the outdoor slab and the wood framing around the closets. If the concrete or soil under the concrete was placed against the wood sill plate or rim joists around the top of your pit, then you'll continue to have problems.

You might consider filling the bottom of the pit with concrete and cutting an opening from the basement level to make two wine storage cabinets ...converting your shafts into very small conditioned crawlspaces.

Ask around to you neighbors to see if you can learn more about how the house was constructed. I'm guessing your situation isn't unique in your neighborhood.

 

[oldestguy]

State of US or country? Do you water the plants outside? Anywhere in front. Depth of "cavity" probably to get brick siding load down to same as basement. Are there weep holes for water to drain from brick siding?

What do the front steps sit on as to depth?

 

[r13]

Nice house! The shafts are foundations for the exterior wood frames above. It puzzle me too as why they need to go 8' down. I suggest:

1) Continue to dewater, and water proof the basement wall exposed to the shaft.
2) Fill the shaft with well mixed medium-fine aggregate to at least one feet above the maximum expect water table. The mix of the fill should be such that it would easily consolidate with least effort of tamping.
3) Provide a 2"-3" layer of fine sand.
4. Provide vapor barrier/damp proof.
5. Provide concrete slab, surrounded by pre-formed joint filler (PJF).
6. Seal the joints with water/mold proof sealant.

You should use treated lumber for the joists and deck, also, provide path for ventilation, as the shaft now is a confined space that would capture and keep the moisture.

 

[IRstuff]

OP files can be downloaded with any browser; it's just that the comma in the file name truncates the rest of the filename and the extension. Nevertheless, the file can be opened with Acrobat or any other PDF reader.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[r13]

Yes, that's how I finally opened it up. I've to provide ".PDF" extension (the downloaded file erased everything after the first dot), and open the download file using PDF reader. Otherwise, my PC says "can't find the file". Even then, the photos don't look good, which gave me an impression that everything was messed up (not true).