Dangers associated with a flooded lift pit.
There is water in the lift pit of our building. Is it dangerous?
What are the risks when a lift pit floods? And how can it be solved?
If the lift pit in your building constantly has water in it, you have a problem.
A quick, effective but temporary solution, since the pit cannot be kept in that condition, is to install a pump to extract the water that continuously seeps in.
Several measures must then be taken.
First, analyse the water in the lift pit to find out where it comes from, because a one-off event, for example a burst water pipe or a break in the drainage system, is not the same as an ongoing problem, such as rainwater ingress through poor waterproofing of the affected area, or a rise in the water table, whether from the sea, groundwater, a reservoir, etc.
If the origin lies in a burst pipe, the solution is to repair it. This would be a simple problem with a quick, effective and permanent solution.
However, if the problem is due to poor waterproofing of the pit and perhaps also of the building and its foundations, we are dealing with serious problems that are costly to repair. Doing things properly from the start, when the building is being constructed, taking into account differences in levels, groundwater, the sea water table, etc., is not the same as having to repair poor workmanship.
We have come across cases of flooded lifts, such as the one in the photograph, where there is more than 10 cm of water, constantly and permanently, with the obvious risk to lift users, both electrically and through corrosion of all the machinery, which is not designed to cope with such a constant inflow of water. In these cases there is no option but to take the lift out of service, since the risk is evident, until the problem is solved.
There are other cases of flooding that affect the whole garage floor (and, by extension, the lift pits), caused by groundwater flowing beneath the building or by a rise in the water table, whether from the sea or a reservoir, making the garage look more like a swimming pool than a parking area.
This pathology is caused by a complete lack of waterproofing of the garage walls or the foundation slab, or by poor execution of that waterproofing, which allows water to enter uncontrollably.
The serious consequence of this massive inflow of water is the highly likely corrosion of the reinforcement, which will lead to structural problems in the building.
Any questions?