Sources of Moisture in your Basement

Wet Basements

There are many different ways you can get moisture and water in your basement. Your contractor can help counteract many of these sources.

  • Cracks in the wall
  • Cracks in the floor
  • Window wells
  • Water seepage between floor and foundation joint
  • Condensation
  • Internal plumbing problems
  • External drain problems

Factors that Contribute to a Wet Basement

Factors that contribute to water entering your foundation include:

  • Poor grading of ground around house
  • Ineffective or missing eaves troughing
  • Poor down spout placement and insufficient drainage from down spouts
  • Humid air causing condensation

Comments   

 
# Administrator 2011-09-11 22:26
If the foundation was excavated and waterproofed a few years ago, the ground will likely have continued to settle so it's possible that the grading has gone from slowing away from your house to sloping towards your house which is not good.

You ahould definitely be able to have your grading fixed. It may be solvable with some top soil or if it has settled a lot, it may require more fill. I would suggest talking to a local landscaping company that has experience in proper grading. If you want to be really sure things are graded properly, you can hire a civil engineer but that's probably not necessary.
 
 
# Administrator 2011-09-11 22:22
Tahir commented:

Hello,

Background:

Water leaked into my basement after a very heavy rainfall a couple of months ago. The water came in at the junction of the wall and the floor in only one specific spot. The amount of water that came in was approximately 3-4 litres.

The foundation is cinderblock, and was waterproofed previously with what looks like Tar and a plastic dimpled, platon like structure and weeping tile. The grading around the house is not very good. In fact its pretty poor.

My question is:

Is it possible to just adjust the grading around the house, without doing an excavation ?

Thank you for time, and thanks for putting up this informative website.