We are in the process of purchasing a 70 year old house. It has a fully modernized basement with 3 bedrooms, 3/4 bath and rumpus room. It also has wall to wall carpeting. Today when my wife was vacuuming, she came upon a "crunchie" spot in the carpet in the closet. After ripping off the baseboard and pulling back the carpet, we discovered that the cement is white and chrystalized and breaking down. Is this alkali and what can be done to remedy the problem?

I have seen this condition on my foundation walls under my crawl splace this white chalky material. If the outter foundation walls were waterproof with asphalt emulsion coating during the construction process this wouldn't happen. Chances very old homes were not protected this way.

Is your home on soil with a high ground water level?