CLEAN OUT GUTTERS

It sounds odd that preventing water in your basement starts with your roof.

Your roof is sloped (even flat roofs) to help water flow to the edges and off the roof. This water is collected by your gutters.

If you don’t have eavestrough (or gutters), or they are clogged with leaves or not functioning properly. Water will fall directly to the ground, beside your home. That water then soaks into the ground. When it does, it can cause hydrostatic pressure on your foundation wall.

If your foundation already has any cracks in it, then water will find its way in. If there are no cracks, hydrostatic pressure can cause cracks.

ADD DOWNSPOUT EXTENSIONS

The knee bone is connected to the thigh bone …

The downspouts are connected to the eavestrough.The purpose of the downspouts is to move the water from your roof away from the foundation.

If your downspouts are installed properly, they will be attached to the side of your home and end above the ground. The end of your downspout will indicate what happens with the water from our roof.

• If they point straight down, you have a problem.
• If there is a 90° add on, that too is a problem.

Both of these options won’t move the water far enough away from your foundation. There are several extensions that can be added to your downspouts. The further the water is directed away the better.

FILL FOUNDATION CRACKS

It is impossible to see cracks in your foundation from the outside of your home. Unless those cracks are visible above the grade of your yard.

If you see wide (1/8″ or 3mm) or larger foundation cracks above the ground, those cracks will most likely extend down further. This is a serious problem. Please contact us for help.

If these cracks are not just cracks in the parging on the foundation. These cracks will easily let water into your foundation or into the basement. If the cracks are not through to the inside of your basement, then the water that does get into the cracks can cause more damage. When that water gets in before it gets cold, the water will form ice and create larger cracks.

There are some products that will help seal these gaps. But sealing any that are above ground will not help the cracks that are hidden underground.

ENSURE PROPER SLOPE

Around your home, you may have different surfaces.

• Concrete driveway and sidewalks
• Paving stone walks or patios
• Lawn
• Or just soil

All of these surfaces need to slope away from the foundation. If the concrete and paving stones were installed properly, they should already slope away from your foundation. But depending on how long they have been there, they may have settled and are either flat or worse, sloped towards your foundation.

Any lawns, or natural surfaces need to slope away as well.

If it is obvious they slope towards your foundation, and depending on when you started this checklist, there may not be time to fix it before the snow falls.

A quick fix is to contact a landscape supply yard and have some yellow clay delivered. Yellow clay is an excellent compaction material. It can be added beside the foundation and molded to slope away to allow water runoff.

MAKE SURE SUMP PUMP WORKS

If your home has a basement and not just a crawl space, it should have a weeping tile system, a sump pit and a sump pump.

However, depending on the age of your home and how a weeping system was installed, it may not be working properly.

A weeping tile is a perforated pipe, usually made of plastic or clay, the weeping tile is buried around a building’s foundation. Its porous nature allows it to collect excess water from the soil. When the soil becomes saturated, especially during heavy rainfall, the weeping tile springs into action and helps to avoid waterlogged lawns and from penetrating your home.

The weeping tile is (or should be) attached to a sump pit. The sump pit collects this water. Then the sump pump, in the sump pit will pump that water out of the pit. Usually the sump pump is pumping the water back outside.

For the purpose of this checklist, you want to make sure you have a sump pump in your sump pit and that that sump pump is working.

If you need a sump pump or would like us to test to make sure your sump pump is working.

INSTALL WINDOW WELLS

What is a Window Well?

A window well is a U-shaped product installed around basement windows. A window well provides a space between the window and the surrounding earth. To allow more light into basement structures. In some cases, window wells also provide an emergency point of egress.

When installed properly, they also include a drain to the weeping tile system around your foundation. Preventing water from seeping in around the window frame and into the basement.

SHUT OFF WATER

Your outside taps/spigot should have a shut off valve.

Shutting off all water to your spigots and underground sprinklers.

Thus preventing pipes or spigots from freezing and possibly bursting and flooding your basement.

CONTACT AAA SOLID FOUNDATION

Fix the problems or prevent further damage.

If your basement gets wet or smells musty. It is best not to neglect the foundation problems.

Contact us for a free quote.

We don’t use scare tactics. If your basement doesn’t need repair, we don’t try and convince you it does. It might be just a matter of fixing the slope around your foundation, extending your downspouts.

If your foundation needs work, we will provide an estimate.