Flooded Basement?

How to Deal
with Common Causes

Unexpected water in your basement can damage walls and floors, destroy carpeting,
ruin furniture, and leadpretty quicklyto mold.

And perhaps the most upsetting of all: As these spaces are so often used for storage,
a wet basement can ruin irreplaceable items like photo albums, antiques, and family
heirlooms.

When you experience a flooded basement for the first time, it's imperative to
determine if the water problems are going to recur or if it was a one-time event.

Can you safely leave your property downstairs once you've got the mess cleaned up?
Or does everything need to come upstairs immediately? What's certain is that if
water in your basement is a consistent problem, it's time to start making decisions.

Determining where the water is coming from is the first and most essential step in
solving this problem.

What happened?
Beyond observable flooding around your home and in your neighborhood, there are
four common sources of water entering basements:

Surface water running down foundation walls

Groundwater in water-saturated soils being pushed into the basement by
hydrostatic pressure
Storm sewer water from the municipal storm sewer system backing up into the
home's existing perimeter foundation drain and leaking into the basement
Sanitary sewer water from a clog in your home's sewer line, the municipal
sewer line, or the combined municipal storm/sanitary sewer system backing up
into the home's drain system, causing sewer water to come up through sink
drains and floor drains on lower levels
Each source has its own specifics and requires its own course of action. Find out
more about your home's drainage system by consulting a contractor or plumber.

Surface water
If this is the first instance of water problems in your basement, the first thing to
check for is surface water draining down next to the foundations. Water coming in at
one location or only at the exterior foundation wall indicates surface water problems.
Here are some things to look for once you get outside.

Overflowing gutters: leaves

Keeping gutters clean of debris should be a part of every homeowner's routine
maintenance program. Depending on the surrounding trees, gutter cleaning may be
required a few times a year. Products are also available to prevent leaves from
getting into the gutters.

Overflowing gutters: downspouts

If you don't mind getting wet, you can do a self-check (your gutters must be cleaned
out first). After at least 15 minutes of heavy rain, check your gutters. If you see any
water overflowing, you have a problem.

Any water overflowing out of the gutters is running down next to the house
foundations. Even if the water is not getting into the basement, it could be eroding
soil from under the house footings, which can lead to cracking of walls and ceilings.

The easiest solutions to overflowing gutters are to either add another downspout on
that run of gutter or to increase the size of the downspout. The best solution
between these two is probably adding another downspout; the second downspout
can act as a backup if the first one gets blocked.

However, if you choose to replace the existing downspout with a larger one, make
sure the contractor increases the size of the corresponding hole in the gutter. It
doesn't do much good to install a larger downspout if the gutter hole is left small.
Downspout distance
Downspouts should extend 10 feet from your home. While many homeowners do
not like downspouts extending out this far, 10 feet is the minimum distance needed
to discharge water coming off your roof far enough away from the house.

Pavement slope
Sometimes paving settles over time and water flow can change direction toward the
house. If this is the case, the paving should be removed and replaced so it slopes
away from the home.

Sealant
Sealant around pavement that abuts the house sometimes cracks over time due to
age or incorrect installation. If the sealant is cracked, it must be removed and
replaced with new sealant.

Landscape slope
Does your yard or the land around your home slope away from your home? It
should. Look for any depressions in the ground next to the home foundation walls. If
any are found, fill in with dirt so the water drains away from the house. Use a clay-
type soil that sheds water instead of sandy soil that allows water to soak into the
ground. Make sure that at least eight inches is kept between the top of the earth and
any wood or stucco on the house.

If there are large hills nearby sloping toward your home, and you think they may be
causing the problem, a civil engineer may be required to analyze the situation and
determine the appropriate solutions.

Irrigation
Avoid placing lawn irrigation next to the house. If this cannot be avoided, instruct the
installer to limit the amount of water dispersed next to the house. Make sure the
irrigation system includes a working rain gauge so the system does not turn on when
there has already been plenty of rain for the plants and lawn.

Did you find it?

You may have gotten a little wet as you investigated possible surface sources of
water, but if you found a problem, the good news is that flooding in the future is
preventable. Fix the culprit and your basement should stay dry.
Controlling subsurface groundwater
If no surface water sources are found, then the source of the water is likely
subsurface groundwater under hydrostatic pressure. Unfortunately, subsurface
groundwater problems are more difficult and more expensive to fix than surface
groundwater problems.

When the groundwater levels outside the basement rise above the level of the floor,
the basement acts like a boat in a pond. If a boat is sitting in water, water will leak in
through any open cracks or holes. It works the same way with a basement.
Hydrostatic pressure can push water through hairline cracks.

Symptoms of this are water coming up through cracks in the basement concrete
floor or water coming in at multiple locations.

If you have an older house within town and the house has a basement with no sump
pump, it is likely the perimeter foundation drain system connects directly into the city
storm sewer system. If the level of the basement is below the street level, there is the
potential of storm water backing up in the city storm sewer system and being
pushed into the perimeter foundation drain system. This can saturate the soils
around the house at the basement level with storm water under hydrostatic
pressure, causing water to leak in.

Underground springs
No matter where it is coming from, the best way to control subsurface groundwater
is to install some type of perimeter drain system to relieve hydrostatic pressure. The
groundwater is pushed into the drain system and not into areas where it can
damage carpets, walls, or belongings. The water drains by gravity into a sump pit
where a sump pump discharges it out of the house.

There are two basic types of drain systems for wet basements. One is a perimeter
above-slab gutter system installed at the base of the exterior foundation walls on top
of the floor slab. It doubles as a base material for the wall. The other type of drainage
system is a below slab perimeter drainage system. The below slab system requires
the partial removal of the concrete floor slab and installation of drainage pipe,
making it more expensive than the base gutter system.

It is believed that an under-floor drainage system is better because the under-floor

drains are believed to relieve the hydrostatic pressure before the water reaches the
bottom of the floor slab.
Storm water backing up
In many older houses with basements (mostly pre-1980), there is a perimeter
foundation drain outside the exterior wall, at the level of the basement floor, next to
the footings at the time the house was built. A pipe was usually installed from the
perimeter foundation drain to the street where it was connected to the city storm
sewer system.

This can become a problem as the city storm sewer system becomes too small when
more development causes more rain runoff. When this happens, the rainwater in the
sewer system can get so high that water flows backwards toward the house.

Usually, the installation of an interior perimeter basement drain system connected to

a sump pump will take care of the problem. If it doesn't, the (more expensive)
alternative is to dig up and cap the pipe that is running from the house to the street
from the perimeter foundation drain. However, this is not always possible; many
times, this pipe is also draining sanitary waste from toilets and sinks in the house.

If you believe you have this problem, contact an experienced contractor for advice.

Sewer water backing up

If the water is coming up through floor drains or sink drains in the basement, then
the problem is often water backing up from the municipal sanitary sewer system.
During heavy rains, combined sewer systems can become overwhelmed with water.
This can cause sewer water to back up in the system and sometimes into homes.

There are other possible explanations, too. Sewer backups can be caused by
individual service lines being plugged by grease, waste, tree roots, breaks in pipes or
saturated ground. Sewer mains can also be plugged by vandalism or large items
dropped down manholes.

This kind of flooding is an enormous problem for homeowners, as it's largely out of
your control and probably means fecal waste backing up into basements. Not only is
it disgusting, but it can also be a serious health hazard.

In order to keep your individual lines clear, you can install backflow preventers that
help stop sewer water from flowing backward into the house. Proper maintenance of
your individual lines - for example, pouring tree root killer down your toilets once a
year - can also go a long way in preventing sewage backups. Still, the problem is
often out of your control.

Sewage in your basement means a major cleanup and a lot of uncertainty about
future problems. If it's something you've seen in your home, you'll have to get your
city government involved. At the very least, be aware of the problem and don't leave
anything valuable near your downstairs drains.
The information in this article was obtained from various sources not associated with State Farm. While we
believe it to be reliable and accurate, we do not warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information. These
suggestions are not a complete list of every loss control measure. The information is not intended to replace
manuals or instructions provided by the manufacturer or the advice of a qualified professional. Nor is it intended
to effect coverage under our policy. State Farm makes no guarantees of results from use of this information.