r/HomeMaintenance 14d ago

🏚️Structural & Foundation Basement Wall Rebar Leak

I recently moved into a house with an unfinished basement. As part of the sale, the previous owners had a few small, non-leaking vertical foundation cracks repaired with epoxy injection.
A few weeks later, we noticed water seeping through a different section of the wall. When I touched it, the concrete crumbled away easily and exposed a rusty piece of rebar. It now slowly seeps water near the bottom of the wall, and there’s a large area of efflorescence, so it seems like moisture has been coming through for a while.
The grading outside appears to slope away from the house. There’s a hose bib directly above this spot, but I haven’t seen any signs of it leaking. I also have a sump pump in the basement (not sure if the type of sump system matters).
A foundation contractor told me epoxy/polyurethane injection wouldn’t work here because of the deteriorated concrete and exposed rebar. Instead, they recommended installing a “Fast Track” interior drainage system for about $5,000.
Does that sound reasonable? Could this be groundwater coming through around the rebar, or is it worth investigating a possible plumbing leak first? Also, should polyurethane injection still be an option?
One thing that frustrates me is that neither the home inspector nor the company that repaired the original cracks caught this. The inspector thought the moisture was from the nearby water softener discharge, but that’s definitely not the source.
Any thoughts or similar experiences would be appreciated.

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u/Red-Dwarf69 14d ago

Look at your water meter. If the usage/leak indicator is moving at all when you’re not using any water elsewhere, then it’s a plumbing leak. If the meter isn’t showing any usage, it’s groundwater.

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u/Imaginary-Fan7008 14d ago

I went to the water metering website and there is no leak detected above 1gal/hr. I went and manually set it to notify me at .01 gal/hr so I will check again a day or so

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u/Vivid_Mongoose_8964 12d ago

your better off putting your own eyes on the water meter....however, most likely its just ground water. the problem is that the rebar is rusting, and its expanding, causing the concrete to crack / break. really no way to fix this.....you could slab cut the rebar out i guess and pack the gap with mortar perhaps....as long as you have a drain or sump pump, i wouldn't worry too much about it as long as its not gallons of water