Keeping water out of the basement, from the outside in
A wet basement is a water management problem that happens to be indoors, which is why it belongs with the rest of our drainage work rather than off in a separate trade. Most basement water arrives one of three ways: it comes down the outside of the foundation wall from roof or surface water, it comes up through the floor because the water table around the house is high, or it comes in through a specific failure like a crack, a bad window well or a discharge line that dumps right back against the wall.
Those three problems have three different fixes, and it is worth knowing which one you have before somebody sells you a system. Roof and surface water is usually the cheapest to solve and the most commonly ignored, because the fix is outdoors: bury the downspouts, correct the grade, intercept the water coming from uphill. If that is your problem, an interior system is treating a symptom.
Where exterior work is called for, we excavate to the footing and apply a waterproofing membrane to the foundation wall, tie in footing drains where they exist or install them where they do not, and backfill with the drainage path built in. It is a bigger job than an interior patch and it addresses the water before it reaches the wall rather than after.
Sump work covers the rest. We install and replace sump pits and basins, set pumps, and run discharge lines to a point where the water actually leaves rather than circling back to the foundation it came from. A short discharge line is one of the most common defects we find. The pump is doing its job and then handing the water straight back to the ground next to the wall.
Crawlspaces get the same treatment on a smaller scale: moisture and vapor control, drainage, and a discharge point that makes sense. We look at the water on site before we quote anything, and we recommend the smallest fix that actually solves it.
A short discharge line is the most common defect we find. The pump is doing its job and then handing the water straight back to the foundation it came from.
On sump pumps