The basement for our new home was poured in Nov. The cement contractor put straw on the floor. He told us it should remain covered until it was enclosed. The next day the framers showed up and removed the straw to frame the basement walls. Yes, we now have straw foot prints in the cement. The straw was never replaced and somewhere around mid Jan. The floor heaved and cracked about 4 feet out from the wall, all the way across the room (30ft) and out under the door. The basement was covered, but it's a walkout, the doors and windows had not been installed. Our general contractor has decided to epoxy the floor to level and seal it. We have been very concerned about the crack leaking, also bugs and water entering through the crack under the door. Any thoughts on structural damage, due to the rebar being bent with the heave? It raised about 1/4" over 8 feet and separated about 1/8". The basement is going to remain unfinished for around 5 years. When finished we assume we will tile a large part of it. Any concerns on tile over epoxy?

I have a 50 year old house. When it rains, water comes in my garage (just about everytime) from the back wall. Depending on the severity of the rain, sometimes it also comes in at several points on the same back wall in my basement. Had my 1st of 3 estimators out to tell me what it will take to fix. I will be selling this house within the next 12 months, and frankly my only goal for this repair is to end up with a situation where this won't become a deal breaker in the real estate transaction. Guy says I need an internal drain around the entire perimeter of basement / garage (not just the back wall) and also they need to dig down 24 inches or so and repair cracks in wall on exterior of house(not full excavation). He did the whole 45 minutes at the dining room table with his pitch telling me all about table water and footers and the reasons I need this and why nothing else will work. I won't get into all of the details about everything he said, but just in general is this a common thing in to the industry to quote the whole thing? His quote was $9,500. I have no doubt his solution will fix the problem, but will I be throwing money away if I just put a drain along the back wall and install a pump(actually hire someone of course)? His quote seemed to assume that table water was a primary culprit, but I never see water come in through the floor or the other 3 walls. Again, I'm not questioning this estimate, and I have no doubt his is the "right" way to do it, but I'm just not convinced that spending $9,500 is the "only" way to do this. Thoughts?