Preventing A Flooded Basement

Flooded basements can be real headaches.  It can also be quite a painful experience for your wallet as well.  Depending on the severity of the flooding you may have to rip out carpet and throw away quite a few valuable belongings.  On top of it all, many of the items that may be damaged beyond repair are books, family pictures or other memorabalia that cannot be replaced.  Not all basement flooding can be avoided.  If you live nearby a river and mother nature has decided to dump so much rain on your area that you need a boat to get down your street, then there is not much you can do about it.  However, there are a number of actions that you can take to make sure your house is not prone to flooding from rain storms.

Believe it or not one of the biggest causes of basement flooding is backed up gutters.  This is most prone to happen in the fall and the spring.  In the fall, falling leaves can clog up your gutters and downspouts.  In the spring, you may have the seeds from various trees near your house cluttering up your gutters.  I have to clean up my gutters each spring from what my kids term "helicopters" falling all over the yard. 

If your gutters and downspouts are clogged with debris that water cannot drain properly and it ends up pouring over the edge of your gutters and right down into your foundation.  The more water that gets around  your foundation the greater the likelihood of flooding in your basement.  I have actually climbed ladders in heavy downpours to clear a clog in my downspout when I saw water overflowing my gutters.  I would rather get a little wet then have to deal with water in my basement.  You may also want to purchase downspout extenders.  This will help more the water away from the house.

One of the biggest causes of basement flooding is the failure of your sump pump. They have a knack for going bad at all the wrong times.  During heavy rain storms I can hear the water pouring into my sump pit.  I often worry about my sump pump failing at times like these.  So I went out and purchased a battery operated sump pump.  This is installed in conjunction with your other sump pump and serves as a backup up.  One of the main reasons that you need a backup sump pump is because they are electrically operated.  If you have a power failure during a severe storm (the most likely time to have a power failure) then there is good chance that you might get a basement flood. 

The ground surrounding many homes is the source of the flooding problem that they get in their basements.  The ground surrounding your home should be gently sloped away from the house.  It should be at its highest point at the foundation of your home.  If it is sloping toward your home then the water is going to run into your foundation and make its way into your basement.  You may need to re-landscape your home and make sure that water cannot pool around the walls of your house.

You can apply a sealant to the floors and walls in your basement.  It is possible that they have been poorly sealed or that they have never been sealed at all.  This is a project that you could take on yourself without much problem. If you notice that you water leaking in through your walls this is your problem. 

Unfortunately if you still have water coming into you basement after clearing your gutters, purchasing a back up sump pump, sloping the ground away from your house, and sealing your walls and floors it may be possible that you have cracked or broken drain tiles.  Underneath the ground surrounding your house there are drain tiles for the purpose of funneling the water into your sump pit so that it can be ejected from the house.  However, if over the years your drain tiles develop cracks or breaks that the water may find another source of entry into your home.  If this is the case, it is a fairly big job requiring the ground surrounding the house to be dug up.  You will need a backhoe for this job and it can be fairly costly.