Basement Water Problems (1201)

Most basement water problems appear as drips or spurts coming from a wall or as seepage coming up through a crack between the wall and the floor. However, the source of basement water is almost always surface water that pools against the exterior of basement walls. The water will flow down the wall until it finds a crack or hole in the wall through which it can enter the basement. The way to prevent such basement water problems is to be sure that the ground near the basement wall slopes down away from the house. Ideally it should slope down 15 feet from the house and have a drop of at least two inches over this distance. However, even a sloped area of three feet will usually do the job.

Another common source of basement water problems is improperly working gutters. Check gutters to make sure that they are not clogged with leaves and twigs which cause them to overflow and avoid sending the rain down the spout. Downspouts can be a problem if they are not long enough to direct water away from the house. Adding an extension on the downspout or installing a splash block at the point where the water leaves the downspout can correct this problem. A good time to locate gutter and downspout problems is during a rainfall.

Improperly installed basement windows can also be a source of water problems. If the window is near grade or below grade a window well should be installed. The well should extend a foot below the bottom of the window frame or have a drain system so that the water that accumulates in the well can drain before it reaches the level of the window and enters the basement.

The above sources of basement water problems should be explored before considering any type of water proofing, coating or drain tiles.

If you have had water in your basement, you will want to dry the basement out as quickly as possible. Once you have mopped, vacuumed or pumped the water from the basement, you need to remove the residual moisture that is left in the concrete, wood and other materials. A dehumidifier is one option. It will operate most effectively if you close the basement up as tightly as possible so the equipment is not trying to dry the entire house. If you have windows you can open, mount fans in them, which helps particularly on dry sunny days. This will not be effective on warm, moist days. A third possibility is to run the blower of a warm air furnace with the vents in the basement open. This should add enough warm air from upstairs to the basement that it will speed the drying. Removing as much of the wet material from the basement as possible will reduce the amount of moisture that has to be removed by a dehumidifier or ventilation.

You can retard the growth of mold or mildew on concrete and wood by scrubbing with a dilute bleach solution (1 cup of bleach per gallon of water). Rinse with clear water. Use this sparingly so that you are adding as little moisture as possible to the basement.

Wet carpet is especially difficult to deal with. Generally, if it cannot be dried in 2-4 days, it must be discarded. Nylon carpeting cannot be treated with bleach. Cleaning of basement carpeting in place, particularly in the summer, is not a good idea, as you are adding more moisture to the basement, moisture which you may not be able to get rid of. If the carpeting was installed using tack strips it may be possible to remove it, have it cleaned and reinstalled.

If you can’t remove the carpeting, you can reduce some of the musty odor by using the following process: Wait until the carpet is dry, then 1) vacuum carefully, 2) sprinkle baking soda over the carpet, 3) work the baking soda into the carpet with a broom or sponge mop and let stand overnight, 4) then vacuum twice, moving the vacuum back and forth in different directions the second time.

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