That Durham clay soil expands and contract with the seasons (moisture). I had the same foundation issues with my house...minus the spring. There might be lots of ways to drain that spring water away from your house that aren't too expensive though. Or maybe you could get a big thirsty dog and keep him down there although the "animal" people might get you...and your cats might get upset too. Or maybe you and Ray could take up mud wrestling?

I love anyone that can use flummoxing in their post.

but if this situation has been there all along, can't it be left alone?
that's always my favorite course of action.

holy crap! j and i just noticed some cracks re-appearing, too, and called Ram Jack, who did foundation repair at the seller's expense on our house. according to Ram Jack Dude, our side porch is pulling the north side of the house down. of course, that is the part of the house they did NOT repair, so it's not covered under the warranty. if it had been any other part of the house, they'd have to come fix it for free. ugh!!!

Ram Jack Dude thought there may have been shifting and compression in the soil due to the highway construction, especially when they were using those huge rams to break apart the old lanes, overpasses, and bedrock a while ago.

an underground spring!?! if it weren't under your house, that would be way cool.

Interesting point. I wonder if the construction could have disturbed the underground water table. I would think that if it had been there all along, you would have had more serious problems by now.

i've got a big thirsty dog you can have...

Minor tributary of Ellerbe Creek? Hmmm Would that be cool or just annoying? Usually, they *avoid* building houses on creeks. Well, at least now that they have wised up since the floodplan that is Eastgate. And Crabtree. Maybe.

In any case, what to do with this freakin pool of water? Heh, you could sell it to neighbors who want extra watering during the drought. Or hog it for yourself. Plant a water garden.

I know, I am being flip. I'm interested to see if you can make a dent in the mystery and hope you can resolve it without too much expense and/or aggravation. But no, you need your new windows!! Will be soo much more comfortable.

-me just talking off the top of my head

i entertained the idea of a spring under my house at one point, given the way the water would suddenly appear in my basement come springtime. i think it can happen.

in my case, it's starting to seem clear that the water is simply following gravity's path which leads it into my basement.

are there any slopes that head toward that part of the house? i'm sure the foundation guy would have noticed if there were, but you never know.

UPDATE:

i went down into the crawlspace this morning and went to the area where roger said he saw standing water. there was a half-dollar sized shallow puddle, but not a pool of liquid like he'd described. the ground was quite wet, though. almost muddy.

while i was down there i explored a little further (but only a little; it's creepy in the crawlspace) and noticed that most of the soil along the perimeter of the foundation is damp or outright wet. i saw a few other tiny puddles in an area on the south side of the house.

additionally, a support post on one of the drop-girders that brackett installed a few years ago was lying on the ground. the girder was only supported (and only barely) by the one remaining post. my impression was that the soil in that (damp) area had settled and the post therefore became 'too short' to support the beam.

after i extricated myself, i called roger and told him what i saw (and what i didn't see). he came by the house within the hour (that's service!) and went back under the house to see how things had changed in the 24 hours since his last visit. he took some photos (which he said he'd email to me) and agreed that the area which had standing water yesterday was totally changed today. which is a relief -- that means we're not dealing with something bizarre like a spring. but it's also flummoxing (hi john!) because we have to spend some time figuring out the source of the water.

the saga continues.

I see that you have gutters http://www.singintomymouth.com/blog/archive/002533.html Do they work well? What's up with the gutter drains? Do they all work? I had to totally re-grade my backyard in Durham to deal with my water issue. Flummoxing indeed! ;-)

Sorry to be a comment hog - but I see that you were having some regrading done in Aug....
http://www.singintomymouth.com/blog/archive/002431.html

john, thank you so much for your concern. i see you left your heart here in carolina. ;-)

the gutters work and are cleaned twice a year. as for the drains... well, i *think* they work. i never see any water backing up out of them. but it's impossible to tell what's going on underground.

as for the regrading, a half-assed job was done, and the project was left incomplete. i'm glad you mentioned it, though... it would be worthwhile to examine whether the parts of the house that weren't regraded were the parts that are wettest.

genius.

Have you ever seen Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House? They accidently hit a spring while they're trying to dig the foundation. I'm glad that's not what happened to you!