With record rain this spring, many in the northeast have experienced damp, wet or flooded basements.  If you live near a river that overflowed, this post won't help you, but if you don't, read on as perhaps there is something here for you.

A house with a basement is constantly under pressure from below. Most of the time it's just gravity trying to fill the void in the earth, but sometimes it's from water, too.  

The most obvious homeowner task is to ensure your gutters and leaders are cleaned, clear and allowing water to run away from the side of your house.  Most sources suggest at least six feet above ground and 20-25 feet if being drained into a drywell.  Clean your gutters (or have someone do it for you) once a year at minimum after all the leaves have fallen off trees near your home (we have our gutters cleaned here in Connecticut just before Thanksgiving).

Rain also can find its way into your basement if the ground near your home doesn't fall away from the house.  You can see if this is a possibility during any rain storm; you'll see water pooling near the exterior walls of the house.  An easy fix with some topsoil and elbow grease.  The "lay of the land" can compound other issues such as gutters that aren't draining far enough away from the home or be created by gutters overflowing and eroding the topsoil near the house.

 It's less expensive to ensure water doesn't get in your home than to waterproof it.  If you can't stop the flow with external measures to drive water away from the home, you need to choose between stopping the infiltration or removing it once it's in the home.  In speaking with a friend who is a new home builder and renovator, Bruce Woolf of Quaker Road Associates, he feels pretty strongly that it's best to keep the water out if you can. 

For a home built more than 30 years ago, it is likely that the walls of the basement were never waterproofed, and certainly not to today's standards of performance. The process of waterproofing such a basement might include french drains to drive water away from the home and/or digging at the foundation of the home (down to the footing) to be able to apply waterproofing material and to create a drain at the footing. Waterproofing the outside of your home is more expensive, generally, than interior measures you might take, but it also cures the problem in a way that protects your home from the erosive and pressure forces of water against cement.

You also can evacuate water from the inside of your home by installing a sump pump alone (usually only effective if water has a single area of entry) or with a more elaborate perimeter floor drain and sump system.  The latter is about a $7-10,000 project depending on your home, but in the hands of a reputable basement contractor, can be expected to make your home dry.

Keeping water out of your basement means a more comfortable, healthier home.  It also means that you can add that basement playroom or family room without worrying about water damage later on.  If you want to read more about this topic, here's a link to a great Popular Mechanics article from February, 1980.  Amazingly, not much has changed in this area, except the materials used.  The article also has some interesting DIY tips.

 Happy Homeowning!