Wet Basement Tips

Maybe you use your basement for storage or maybe it is used as a family recreation area or even perhaps contains an extra bedroom. No matter what you use your basement for, what you really do not want is to have leaks in it. It usually creates an odor or causes mold to grow on some of the property that you may have down there and most of us are aware that any mold growing in our homes is undesirable. There are quite a few things that you can do to waterproof your basement, though, and most of them are pretty easy.

Basements are most likely to leak around the joints where the wall and the floor meet up and this is especially true after a heavy rain or when a heavy blanket of snow starts to melt around your home. This makes up about 90 percent of all the leaks that occur in basements. What happens here is that the surface water, like rain or melting snow, collects and builds up around the foundation of the home. This is forced through the joint where the wall and the floor come together. One of the best ways to prevent this is to make sure that the ground on the outside of your home slopes away from it, so that water is directed out toward the outer edges of your lawn instead of toward your basement. The slope should be extended for at least ten feet and up about one inch per foot.

Downspout extensions can also be installed for the same purpose of taking water away from your foundation. Rain gutters also need to be cleaned out regularly. If you do not have rain gutters, you should install some. This prevents water from falling off your roof and directly to the base of your home.

The windows to your basement also need protected. Installing windows that are properly sealed and installing window wells will prevent this.

Stopping water from condensing around the pipes and other cold surfaces in your basement can be done by insulating the pipes and also by controlling the ventilation in the room. Humidity should also be lowered if you are experiencing condensation build-up on windows.

Something that should never be done is hanging up wet laundry in the basement to dry. This will build up the humidity that you are trying to get rid of.

Any plumbing that is leaking should be repaired immediately and if necessary, a dehumidifier should be installed in the basement to lower the moisture content of the air. This should help keep your basement feeling dry.


Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.