I just bought a home that was built in 1950, and it passed all water/plumbing inspections. Just prior to closing, the area experienced significant rain (northeast Ohio). Now I am having some leakage problems in my basement. To make the conversation somewhat simple, I have 4 perimeter walls in the basement, with a center wall running down the middle. On either side of this middle wall is where my leakage is occurring. There does not appear to be much water on the walls, but rather at joint of the wall and the floor. From what I have read, most basement leaks originate from the perimeter walls. With mine coming from the center wall, I am lead to believe that the water is originating from beneath my house (which I thought is supposed to be uncommon).

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Most likely foundation seepage but do you know if your water main passes under the basement floor or does it enter via a side wall?

Look outside - any vertical cracks?

Ask the town for the plans. Maybe your middle wall was poured on a footing, with a slab floor poured afterwards on each side, so it might have shrinkage gaps the way an outside wall might. You can buy epoxy kits to fill along the bottom of the wall. Sometimes even silicone seal will work if you wait until it's really dry, and clean it well.

Have you considered adding a sump pit and pump? We have been experiencing these types of situations regularly in my area due to record amounts of precip. We have installed over 30 sump pits in the last few weeks, and I would say about 95 percent of the installs have cured the problem. The other 5 percent were found to be water actually leaking in from above the basement floor, in which case sump piits didn't help much. As far as water coming in from under the floor, sump pit and pump will be your best, easiest(although not all that easy from a labor intensive standpoint) route.