A Dry Basement Part 2 - Water Issues
As I've previously stated, water is a nasty beast. There are various ways water can get into the basement and crawl space. The following are the most popular breaches; however there are many more...
Footer Tile: If the footer tile gets clogged by dirt and water is unable to pass through it, it will rise into the first course of your basement and go onto the floor.
Below Grade Block: If there is a breach in the waterproofing or water repellent, the water will wick its way from the breach downwards to the interior block. From this point, based on volume, it will continue to wick downwards.
Above Grade Block: The majority of homes have 1 - 3 courses of block that are exposed to weather. If they are not sealed, heavy rains will saturate the block and will wick its way inwards again.
Non-functioning Sump Pump: If the sump pump is burned out, or electric power is out, the water that the crock collects has nowhere to go. Nowhere that is, except out onto your floor.
Bad Grading: Every home needs proper sloping of earth away from a foundation; also, it is important to keep mulch to a proper level so that water does not pond.
Animal Urine: Yes, HZG has been called to a home to investigate a wet floor. It was animal urine. Animal urine...
Next Topic: A Dry Basement Part 3 - Footer Tile
1 comment:
After several years of trying to discover the reason for water coming down the back wall of my basement, I finally discoverd that it was a problem with the gutter on that side of the house. The gutter was not correctly attached and the water directly went into the window well by the basement wall. Reattaching a new gutter corrected the problem.
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