Concrete – How to repair this small hole in the basement floor

basementconcretefloor

Last summer I noticed water coming up from my basement, always in the same spot. The rest of the basement is bone dry and we have french drains so I was baffled. This winter, I tore up the tile that was in that area, and lo and behold, I found a hole roughly the size of a golf ball. I am not able to confirm whether this is where the water is coming from because nothing is leaking in winter, but this is the exact spot water always pooled from, so I assume it is groundwater coming up.

We are recent owners of the house, so I have no idea how the hole got there. I want to fill it. Someone warned me about water pressure building up if I did that, but there is a large sump hole very close to this.

Here are some pictures with my finger for scale:

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How do I fill this?

Best Answer

Your best bet is Hydraulic cement. There should be directions on the tin, but it boils down to clean the hole and fill it up. I'm partial to nitrile (or latex) gloves and stuffing it in by hand for something that size. The gloves because some people have skin reactions to cement; also you can throw the gloves away rather than rinsing cement down your drain.

If you do use your fingers to pack it in you'll still want a tool to flatten off the patch. Either a paint stirrer dragged sideways or putty knife should do nicely. It's not exactly the job you need a trowel for.

It sounds like you're right about the pressure, the water should migrate to the drain. If that hole was relieving enough pressure to buckle the floor I'd expect it to be gushing like you'd struck oil.