After the recent very prolonged rain, our downstairs carpet got very wet. We dried it using a couple of fans, and though it seemed dry, there was a musty, damp smell which wasn't getting any less obvious as the days continued. Concerned that the underlay and/or slab were still wet, I called our insurer today and got a claim number, though it was not at that stage called a "claim".
I told the lady that we would pull up a bit of carpet to see what was happening under the carpet.
We did that this afternoon and were not so surprised to find several cracks in the slab. It is almost like the corner has "cracked off". There are cracks on the diagonal plus a large crack along the area where the drainage pipe runs through the slab taking water from the drain behind the solid core filled besser block wall.
I have taken photos and here are a couple. The first one is one of the cracks that run diagonally across the floor at the front corner of the slab, running roughly from the side across the corner to the front of the house. I think the corner of the slab has broken off. Outside this room the ground was so sodden that my son stepped on a garden bed and sunk to his ankle.
The second photo shows a long split where it is very dark. There is a drainage pipe running from back to front under (or as part of) the slab and I think this might be a weak point, though it was engineered, checked and passed as the build progressed.
The upstairs of the house is held up by steel posts and there are no cracks in walls or ceiling. The water has come up through the slab, through these cracks.
We have a $500 excess. We are happy to rip up the carpet. Whether we claim this on insurance will depend on how much it costs to recarpet, but also on how much it costs to stop water coming up next time we get a lot of rain. My concern is that whatever we put down, carpet, floating floor or tiles will be going onto a slab that will allow water up in the next big wet.
We've had this slab for about 12 years, had water through from the rear where the earth is dug out, years ago, but hubby has done extensive extra drainage. This is the first time we have had water come up through the slab, and I do worry that the slab might be compromised (and subsequently cracked) after the ground was so sodden just recently.
Does anybody know what it is likely that we need to do to fix this? Is there a waterproof membrane that we could paint on, or is this problem needing more than a membrane to stop water coming up again.
I told the lady that we would pull up a bit of carpet to see what was happening under the carpet.
We did that this afternoon and were not so surprised to find several cracks in the slab. It is almost like the corner has "cracked off". There are cracks on the diagonal plus a large crack along the area where the drainage pipe runs through the slab taking water from the drain behind the solid core filled besser block wall.
I have taken photos and here are a couple. The first one is one of the cracks that run diagonally across the floor at the front corner of the slab, running roughly from the side across the corner to the front of the house. I think the corner of the slab has broken off. Outside this room the ground was so sodden that my son stepped on a garden bed and sunk to his ankle.
The second photo shows a long split where it is very dark. There is a drainage pipe running from back to front under (or as part of) the slab and I think this might be a weak point, though it was engineered, checked and passed as the build progressed.
The upstairs of the house is held up by steel posts and there are no cracks in walls or ceiling. The water has come up through the slab, through these cracks.
We have a $500 excess. We are happy to rip up the carpet. Whether we claim this on insurance will depend on how much it costs to recarpet, but also on how much it costs to stop water coming up next time we get a lot of rain. My concern is that whatever we put down, carpet, floating floor or tiles will be going onto a slab that will allow water up in the next big wet.
We've had this slab for about 12 years, had water through from the rear where the earth is dug out, years ago, but hubby has done extensive extra drainage. This is the first time we have had water come up through the slab, and I do worry that the slab might be compromised (and subsequently cracked) after the ground was so sodden just recently.
Does anybody know what it is likely that we need to do to fix this? Is there a waterproof membrane that we could paint on, or is this problem needing more than a membrane to stop water coming up again.