Posting for traffic. Water in cellar when it rains

[OnTheMoors]

Has anyone had this issue. We have water in the cellar but only when it rains. Roofer been today to re-do the chimney cap as it might have been getting in that way. The water company has tested every drain with dye and all came back as negative. It's always been a dry cellar , this is a new issue in last year or so. Terraced house

This is obviously the work of the infamous @rainypuddles

when you say he's tested every drain with dye and it was negative what has he tested? For blockages or to see if drains in your basement are connected to the mains?
Main culprits for water in a basement would be groundwater ingress through walls/windows/air vents and backing up from sewers or surface water drains. Do you have grids or drains in your basement floor or anything like a washing machine / toilet etc?

This happened to a friend of mine, every time it rained her cellar filled with water. We used to joke that people paid a fortune for a swimming pool in their basement.
It turned out under further investigation that a stream ran underneath her house, so obviously when it rained, the stream swelled and popped up through her cellar floor.
Try your local environmental health to see if this is the same for you.

Water ingress is a horrible problem to solve- it can be a million and one things causing it

Yes - I was going to say a stream also. I know someone who has this same problem. It makes a superb wine cellar. The cool water is perfect for storing wine ambiently.

We had this problem several years ago and I'm sorry to say that it took years to sort it out. Like you, we had a dry cellar that started flooding when it rained. The water company (Thames Water) investigated without success, and we then tried a couple of private companies who came up with various ideas but were unable to solve the problem. Finally we hit on a company that found a hidden manhole cover and discovered a sewage pipe that had been invaded by plant roots and was consequently blocked and cracked. As it was a shared drain between ours and our neighbours' property (Victorian houses) it should have been Thames Water's responsibility to repair it but they denied responsibility and we paid thousands to have it replaced. Luckily we are on very good terms with our neighbours and they shared the cost. (We are on a slight incline so although our cellar was flooding to a depth of about 8 inches, theirs was merely damp.) After many months and an appeal, we finally received a full refund from Thames Water.

You have all my sympathy Onthemoors. It seems interminable when you are going through it and I still have nightmares about the house flooding. Hopefully, yours won't prove to be quite such a difficult problem but don't give up - you will get it resolved.

Also check that ground extraction contracts in the area haven’t changed.
Water companies often have licences to take x cubic meters of water from a stream. If a contract isn’t renewed because the environmental impact has been too great, the water table can rise, making cellars newly damp.

Water ingress is a horrible problem to solve- it can be a million and one things causing it

My money is on water.

The sewer pipes and drains have all been checked with a camera and the water has been tested. It is rain water. The environment agency have charts of a underground streams and there are none where we live

We had this issue. The drain that the nearest gutter downpipe to the cellar flowed into was leaking.

If your drains are OK, it could just be caused by the rise in the water table when it rains, although there is normally quite a time delay.

The nearest gutter downpipe is 2 doors away. It takes the rainwater from all 4 terraced houses . That part was camera and dye tested . Yorkshire water were very thorough

Do your neighbour's cellars flood when it rains too?

No

Mine used to get puddles but it was water ingress from an overflowing down pipe drain which saturated the soil. It took ages for the soil to dry out and for the cellar puddle to stop appearing

It might sound daft, but have you tried sitting in the cellar when it is raining to see where the water coming in?

That's what we did.

@Singlebutmarried

Haha @Singlebutmarried