8 Ways Water Can Get Into Your Basement
1/30/2015
 Eight ways water can get into your basement.....and subsequently ruin family heirlooms, floors, walls, your real estate value ........and possibly your life. OK, maybe not your life, but, we can all agree that any unrestrained water in your home is a disaster so here goes:
There are two routes water takes and some possible ways to remedy the situation: - Route A: water coming down above aka surface water - Ventilation vents - your best option is just to remove these. - Windows and window wells - remove, replace, or change the outside grade. - Steps, Bilco doors - usually you can change the door or change the outside grade. - Downspouts - run them away from the home. - Route B: water that comes up from below aka ground water - through the floor - if you have a dirt floor pour a concrete floor, if you have a concrete floor there are a few ways to fix this but it depends on how the floor was installed so it is a tougher issue to talk about here, call us for that one. - through the sump pit - a bigger pump, deeper pit, or backup electric can fix that. - through the walls - probably you will need to dig out the foundation, repair, tar or parge the walls, and install drains, BUT, depending on the amount of water you may be able to paint on a water sealer. There are a lot of variables to how to repair these things. Your foundation type is a big factor as well as the outside grade. Feel free to call or email photos of your particular problem. Often the issues can be remedied with a simple inexpensive fix. Once in a while the situation calls for going full tilt and installing everything known to man to keep the water at bay. Those situations are not the norm though.  Softscaping items such as plants and mulch add immediate beauty to our yards, but, going beyond that will create a wonderful living space and a great return on your investment. A clean well designed landscape will take into consideration the natural beauty of the property, the layout of the home and, importantly, create seamless connections between those two areas.
As a rule of thumb, keep this in mind: You'll want to spend approximately 10% of your home's value in landscaping. Upon resale, that investment should add approximately 20% to your home's value. That is a great area for ROI! But, you need to spend wisely. A well qualified professional will assist you in the decision making process. 5 things to consider in landscape design: 1) Consider not only what landscape features the home has now, but also the present and future use(s) of the home. Ex - long term vacation home vs. full time home. 2) Take into consideration and current or near future needs to maintain the structure. You do not want to pave a driveway in the spring if you want to add a concrete patio in the fall. 3) Hardscaping should come before softscaping so that nothing needs to be redone and each penny spent has something to show for it. That is just makes good economic sense. 4) Current trends all point to outdoor living spaces as having the best future monetary return. This makes sense. If you can use areas of your yard all year round you just theoretically increased the footprint of your home. 5) Keep a thought on tick resistant landscaping throughout the project. Anything that you can do to keep these pests away will increase the health and happiness of your family. Visit our Landscaping page for more information. |
Bill Pearn Masonry Blog
Quality construction does not only build structures, it also builds: town pride, small business opportunity, beautiful neighborhoods, home equity, and ultimately better lives.
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