Basement floor wet

My basement floor, is about 7 ft below grade. And I have noticed if my wife gets behind on her wash, and it piles up, the floor gets damp under the pile of wash. And any cardboard boxes setting on the floor will get damp also. I have raised all the boxes, or replaced them with plastic toots, and gotten her to move the wash. All 4 walls are dry, what would make the floor leak. And I am also running a dehumidifier and that is pulling on the average of 30 gallons a week, set on 60, any lower and it never shuts off. As is on 60, it doesn't shut off very often or long.

 

It sounds like you have water under your floor. While it is always possible this is due to a leaking waste pipe under the floor it is also more likely that outside water is draining down along the outside foundation walls to the weeper system but not flowing through it and draining as it should. The concrete floor is not leaking but wicking water and evaporating into the air until it blocked by a box or clothes. How old is your home and what type of foundation walls do you have? Block or concrete? Some older homes never had a weeping system installed, and others used clay tile that over years would both crack and become plugged both from sediment but also from outside tree roots. It sounds like if there is no moisture coming through your walls that the exterior foundation coating system is doing it's job and that your weeper system is broken or blocked allowing the water to backup and flow under your basement pad at the foundation footing area. Is there any evidence of water where the walls meet the floor pad? Has this been a long term problem because it also could be that because of the amount or rain you may have had this year, the ground is saturated and the systems in place simply are not able to drain that level of moisture and using the dehumidifier solution would make sense for the short term.

 

Well it really wouldn't surprise me any if there was no weeping system installed. The house was built in the early 50, along with about a 100 of my neighbors, as off base housing. The foundation walls are block, and dry. I had a leak in one corner, but after I cut the tree down, and dug up the stump it stopped, but that was like 8 years ago. The problem with the floor, has only been about a year or so. The pad isn't tight up against the footing, there is a 3 inch space all the way around, and that is dry. That goes into one corner, where to it a 2X4 foot hole, about 3 foot deep, that is also dry. That is where my sewer clean out is.

 

It sounds like moisture is under your pad at least in that location. Have you tried covering other floor areas with plastic to see if moisture is only in that one area, or others as well? It is either moisture from ground water seepage from somewhere or moisture from a leaking pipe. If it is isolated only to the laundry area, it could in fact be a plumbing issue from a pipe crack/break.

 

I will try putting plastic down, and see what happens. As for a pipe being broken or cracked. All of my plumbing, water, sewage, and gas are about 18 inches off the floor, nothing runs under the floor.