Mikepier writes:

On Feb 15, 9:54*am, Dan Espen
wrote:
"desgnr" writes:
"Phisherman" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:05:22 GMT, "desgnr" wrote:

I have wall to wall carpeting in my basement on a concrete floor.
Water comes up through the concrete about once or twice a year when we
have
steady rain.
Is there any solution for this problem,since i don't see any cracks in the
concrete, just the water seems to appear.

Remove the carpeting. *Fix the water issue (proper drainage,
downspouts, grading, sealing concrete, French drain, etc). * When you
notice you have a dry basement for 2-3 years, install the carpeting or
better yet vinyl flooring.
How does a French drain work ?
I notice the water is coming from the middle of the room,away from the
walls.
Where would i put the drain ?

No one else is top posting.
Fixed that for you.

Water coming thru the middle of the floor isn't uncommon.
The french drain goes around the perimeter.
It relieves the water pressure under the entire slab.

They break up the concrete around the perimeter and put in drain pipes
to a sump pump. *The sump pump sends the water where ever you want.
It should go somewhere outside where the ground slopes away from the house.

One thing I don't understand is if the water table is high, would'nt
the water that gets pumped out eventually make it's way back to the
ground and eventually back to the basement?

No, that's why I said it should drain somewhere that slopes away from
the house. Mine goes out to the street and runs down a hill from
there.

The sump pump is set to start pumping when the water is about 1 foot
below the slab. Effectively, for the area around my house the
water table is lowered by that much.

Our clay soil is only semi-permeable. You can create a locally
lower water table without pumping day and night.
Across the street we have a spring that comes right to the
surface most of the year.