If I had a dollar for every house that I’ve been in that had walls painted with a waterproofing paint... A layer of “waterproofing” paint will not hold back hydrostatic pressure.
The one most interesting: Generally, 10 inches of snow will melt into one inch of water. Sometimes the snow-liquid ratio can be much higher when snow falls into a very cold air mass and temperatures are 20 degrees or less at ground level.
This storm was the second heaviest rainfall in 24 hours on record, and caused the worst flooding since Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
Over the past 20 years owning Arid Basement Waterproofing, we’ve come up with a handful of questions to help you determine the origination of the water seepage. After going through this checklist we’ve devised, you are going to have a pretty good idea on where the water is coming from.
Do you get the water on any given rain or just on the heavy rains?
If it doesn’t matter on the severity of the rain, and you experience seepage on a light rain or on a quick downpour (summertime thunderstorm), you probably have an issue with your grading or leaders (downspouts) and gutters. If your basement survives the light and quick rains, but surrenders to the prolonged storms, heavy downpours, or multiple days of rain, you most likely are dealing with the water table rising up due to the ground getting saturated and having no place to go (except in your basement!).
Real story: I once had a lady who would put a coffee mug outside on her deck when she knew it was going to rain. After the rain, she would measure the accumulation with a ruler–anything under 2.5 inches, she was in the clear–anything over 2.5 inches, get out the towels because it was eventually going to come in!!Do you get water as soon as it starts to rain or does it come in the next day or many hours later?
If the seepage occurs within 30 minutes or less of when it starts to rain, you most likely have an outside problem. Once again, check your grading, leaders and gutters and make sure the grade is sloped away from the house and the leaders and gutters are clean. If it takes many hours or even the next day and you see the puddles on the floor, that points to the water table taking its time rising up from below your basement floor and seeping in.Does the water come from where the floor and the wall meet or does it come down the wall starting at eye level?
When water comes from the wall at eye level and cascades down the wall you most likely have an outside problem. Eye level should typically coincide with where the grade meets the exterior of the house. If the water comes in where the floor meets the wall, that suggests the hydrostatic pressure from the water table underneath the basement slab.
If your answer to these questions all lead to the water table being the source of your seepage, then the one and only way to permanently fix the problem is to install an interior french drain.
After 20 years of inspecting basements, I’ve come up with a handful of reasons why a homeowner will not have water in their basement one day and the next day have puddles on their floor.
First of all, the NJ/NY are has a high water table. (Definition of water table: The underground surface below grade level which is wholly saturated with water.) So in my opinion, even if you do not currently have water in your basement–it’s not a matter of IF but WHEN. I’ve been in houses that are 80 years old and dry as a bone, but then after a major storm, e.g. Hurricane Floyd in September 1999, about 10 inches of rain drop to the ground and seepage occurs. Which brings me to my first reason: Major storms impact the water table and cause it to shift creating water in basements that never got a drop in the past. Major storms raise the water table with such force and saturate the ground so much that it shifts the water table and creates new avenues for ground water to rise up, putting hydrostatic pressure on basement foundations that were dry before the storm.
The second reason for the water table to shift, which comes up often, is an installation of a built-in pool. Whether it is the homeowner or a next-door neighbor, installing a built-in pool displaces the ground water that would normally rise up but now cannot due to the structure of the pool. If the pool is installed close enough to the house, it can direct the water to the adjacent foundation wall.
A third cause is cutting down big trees that were close to the house. It’s amazing how much water a big tree can soak up in the summertime.
And lastly, a fourth reason for dry homes to result in seepage, is new construction. If you live in an area that is being built up or you have land close to you that opens up for development, you can get a shift in the water table from all the foundations being sunk into the ground. Water displacement can occur and foundations never subjected to hydrostatic pressure will give away at some point in time and cause the basement to leak when the ground is saturated.
There are a lot of battery backup and dehumidifier systems on the market, and after a lot of research and almost 50 years of experience, our family at Arid has found two products to be of the utmost quality and efficiency.
We get many phone calls from clients who are satisfied with their French drain system — until a storm comes where the power goes out. The custom battery backup system that we put together comes with a 1/2 HP pump and protects your basement twofold: It kicks on when your electric pump doesn't have juice in case of a power failure, and it will also save you if your primary pump malfunctions. In a typical storm, a pump will cycle once every 5-15 minutes. With a major storm, your pump could cycle once every 2 minutes and with a brand new battery, it will last you about 28 hours (we did testing at our shop). Mind you, if your battery is older or has been used, you will get less than 28 hours. Once the power comes back on, the battery charges itself back up.
With growing concerns about basement mold, the Sante Fe Classic dehumidifier is the first line of defense. This Energy Star high-capacity dehumidifier removes up to 110 pints of water per day (most standard residential units range from 25 to 70 pints per day). The Sante Fe also has superior air filtration, and captures particles (including mold spores) down to 1 micron in size. Providing greater protection than ventilation and air conditioning, this will maintain a medically recommended humidity level of 30-50 percent in your basement.
A distributor for both of these top-of-the-line products, please call Arid for further information and installation.
There are a couple of different ways water gets into a basement.
One way is water entering and trickling down the wall at around eye level (if you’re standing in the basement). Essentially this means that the source of the water is stemming from grade level. Water coming into the basement this way is due to poor grading and, or, unsatisfactory leaders and gutters. The grading needs to be built up and sloped away from the house approximately 5 feet. The gutters need to be cleaned regularly and the leaders need to discharge the water away from the house, again, approximately 5 feet.
The only other way water can get into the house is due to the water table. In our area, there is a high water table and with a certain amount of precipitation, it causes the water table to rise, putting pressure on the foundation. Typically, it comes in where the floor and the wall meet, through cracks in the slab or through the wall at the base of the foundation. If this is the issue, the only way to permanently solve the problem, is to install a French drain.
We install a French drain by breaking open the concrete floor about a foot wide, dig and trench it out, lay perforated PVC pipe and gravel in the trench and recover the trench with concrete. The French drain is installed so that everything is gravity fed to a sump pump and the pump discharges the water up and out of the basement. After Arid installs a French drain, we back our work up with a Lifetime Guarantee that you will not have any water on the floor again!