On Apr 4, 8:18*pm, wrote:
On Apr 4, 12:50*pm, zzyzzx wrote:

I think you have ground water problem, probably from roof run-off and
rain that is a bit above the basement floor. *I'm assuming that the
washing machine drains to a sanitary sewer, not just under the slab.
The PVC pipe you describe is likely not the culprit. *If you are still
concerned just drop a sewer dye tablet into the washing machine drain
when the machine isn't running.. *If the water coming up through the
floor shows color, then the drain is defective, if not it isn't the
source of the water.

I think we have a winner.

I'd get outside and make sure the yard is correctly pitched away from
the house on all side. * Why is that gutter overflowing? * *Where the
downspouts end, the bare minimum is to have a long splash block to get
the water away. * Much better is a length of flexible pipe that can
take it 6ft or so away, but that can't always be done.

And get outside in a heavy rain and see what is really going on. * You
may find water screwing things up that you never expected. * I was
having a problem and went outside to find that the flex pipe on the
downspout was not shoved on high enough. * When there was a heavy
rain, the pipe was overflowing right at the foundation. * If I didn't
look during a heavy rain, I'd never have realized it.

Here's a question.... i've got one downspout on the house (there when
i bought it) that goes straight into the ground; the other four all
end "normally" with a spout. I don't know whether that one goign down
goes into a sewer? or some sort of dry well attempt? the sewer idea
seems unlikely, given the city's attitude towards such things, but the
dry well attempt seems also unlikely, since i live in a high water
table area with a heavy clay underlying it and a sump pump, and this
downspout is attached to the house, and on the upslope side. i've sort
of poked down around it with a trowel (it's in the middle of a couple
of evergreens with roots and such) but not discovered anything, is
there any clever way to figure it out without excavating? is it maybe
not worth the effort, and just chop it off and install a spout? or
maybe even just leave it alone...?