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Just purchased a century home last fall. The unfinished basement sees a decent amount of water ingress, but the floor drain has kept it from flooding. However, in the middle of the basement is a concrete pillar which houses the ash pit for the fireplace directly above. One side of this pillar has quite a bit of efflorescence and spalling--the worst in the basement, in fact. The center of the spalling is probably three feet off the ground, and the efflorescence is just a soft white powder that shows up behind the spalling. (I can't see any efflorescence on the surface since the surface was painted.)

Efflorescence and spalling come from water intrusion, right? Then what are they doing up off the ground on an isolated, interior pillar? Does this indicate that there's a roof leak or some other source of water coming down from above? Or is it just a result of being 100 years old in a damp basement?

EDIT: Photos

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Jordan Kizer
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1 Answers1

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A picture would help, but just from your description, water is likely coming down the fireplace's chimney, then down to the ash pit. It could be coming down inside of the chimney if the cover has a hole in it. It could also be coming down the outside of the chimney, if there is a problem with the flashing.

BaddDadd
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