Making Your Basement Waterproof
March 5, 2010 | In: General
The most common response to the possibility of basement flooding is to install a sump pump. But your sump pump should be the last line of defense instead of the first. If you’re building an exercise or weight room in your basement, consider doing things in addition to installing a sump pump.
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The first step in protecting your basement from water damage is in the grading of the home site. If an existing house has slope problems correcting the grade may require a major project, but the resulting improvement of basement dryness will be worth the effort. A less obvious basement water problem comes from the roof – your gutters and downspouts.
An average 2000 square foot roof produces close to 1200 gallons of water with for every inch of rain. Clogged gutters or downspouts without sufficient tiling to drain water away from the foundation can cause severe dampness of basement walls. During severe or prolonged rainfall, it can even result in flooding.
One solution to poor grading or roof drainage problems is a dry well. This technique is a lot less work and much less expensive than regrading your entire lot.
Another approach is to create a French drain. A traditional French drain is a simple gravel and sand filled trench that leads water away from low-lying areas.
It should have a 1 or 2 percent grade in order to run water away from the house. Add gravel up to within 5 or 6 inches of the surface. Top the gravel with a 3 or 4 inch layer of coarse sand and cover with a layer of sod or soil and grass seed. Some experts also recommend using a perforated drain pipe in the trench to carry overflow more easily.
An interior drainage system can be used to channel leakage to the outside. This method involves breaking up the floor along the base of the basement walls, digging a trench, and installing drain tiles to carry the water to a sump pump or discharge point. This method does no damage to the room. The trench is then filled with coarse gravel and the floor replaced over the top.
Just as settling or erosion can cause foundation cracks, they can lead to cracks in basement walls. When this happens you should contact a basement waterproofing company to repair the cracks with a waterproof caulking material. This should be followed by the application of waterproofing materials that seal the wall surface.
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