Water in the basement repair. Finding water in your basement can be a nightmare. Your solution when you find water is long term fix to prevent future water infiltration.
April shower sometimes brings not only May flowers but flooded basements. Basement seepage, and the occasional basement flood, are common home problems and quirky ones. One house may be deluged with water in a basement yet a neighbor’s may stay bone dry, say officials. Even a new house can have basement water problems.
The question then is when you have water in the basement, how do you repair it.
If you have a finished basement, even a small amount of water is a problem. Water damage can cause hundreds if not thousands of dollars in damage. You may have health issues due to basement seepage and flooding. When rainwater mixes with sanitary sewer wastewater you end up with a dangerous situation.
Basements flood or leak because they’re below grade or partially underground.
There are two ways water gets into the basement (and some homes suffer from both). Here’s the first way water gets in. If you have a basement floor drain, the water will come up through the basement drain, toilet or sink.
Keep in mind that during a huge rainstorm, the rainwater will inundates a sewer system. When that happens, the water overflow ends up inside peoples’ homes. Storm runoff and flooding will enter a home through any drain inside a home’s basement. During sever flooding, water gets into homes through cracks in the foundation walls.
This is known as seepage and because it’s mostly rainwater, it’s less of a sanitary concern than a sewer backup. Seepage occurs when water collects on a sidewalk or driveway next to a basement foundation wall, or when the ground around a foundation wall becomes saturated with rainwater. Seepage is not as damaging as floor drains backing up but can still cause major damage to carpets, furniture, drywall and paneling in a basement.
Here is now to prevent water from getting in a basement –Water in the basement repair solutions
Water in the basement repair solution #1. Standpipes
For example, if water comes into a basement through a flood drain, a homeowner can install a standpipe. A standpipe is a wide diameter pipe inserted into the floor drain. Once the below-ground water backs up into the drain, the water moves up into the standpipe, staying contained in that pipe versus entering the basement.
Standpipes are either screwed or dropped into the basement drain opening. In some cases, it may require a coupling available at most hardware or plumbing stores.
If you have a standpipe, you need to decide whether to keep it installed year-round. If you don’t keep it installed, you risk the surprise of a basement flood.
Water in the basement repair solution #2. Plugs and Check Valves
Another possible remedy to drain openings is a drain plug. You install these plugs to pop open when you have too much water pressure and to keep the floor from cracking.
Another prevention method is for your to install a sewer or check valve. You install these valves on the underground drainpipe that connects your basement floor drain to the storm sewer system.
There are manual and automatic valves. Basically, what they do is restrict the flow of the water so that it runs away from the house. Expect to pay anywhere from $2,500 to $6,000 to have one installed.
Water in the basement repair fix #3. Overhead Sewer Systems
Another solution is an overhead sewer, which is more costly (they start at about $10,000) but guarantees water will not back up into a basement. An overhead sewer system makes sense when you have a finished basement with a bathroom or other pluming fixtures (laundry room).
With an overhead sewer system, you collect the basement sewage in a tank and then pump it out by a motorized ejector pump. The waste goes through an sewer pipe that is at a height that is above the street sewer line.
You might consider an alarm or a water leak detector to sound the alarm if and when you get water in the basement.
Water in the basement repair fix #4. Downspout repairs
Homeowners should also check to make sure their home’s downspouts are not tied into their drainpipe. If the downspouts travel down into the ground, there’s a good chance that they are connected to the underground drain pipe.
The solution here is disconnecting the downspouts from the drainpipe. Start by cutting a downspout about a foot above where it enters the ground. Install an elbow connector at the cut, and then add an extension pipe to the elbow so that water from the downspout is directed away from the house.
Remember not to point the pipe so that it floods your neighbor’s driveway or yard.
There’s a couple of ways to address seepage coming in through cracks in the walls and floors of the basement.
Water in the basement repair and fix #5. Seal the walls and floors
The most common is to have the walls and floor sealed, preferably from the outside and the inside. If you hire a company to do that, carefully check them out. Expect to pay several thousand dollars to have the basement sealed.
A homeowner can also opt for the less expensive method of sealing from the inside, an easy job for the do-it-yourselfer. This requires cleaning the basement walls, and then filling any large cracks with hydraulic cement. Then, you can apply a coat of waterproof sealing paint to the interior foundation wall.