Keep Water Away From Your Foundation More Easily with These Simple Tips
One of your top property management priorities as a homeowner is to keep water away from your home’s foundation.
As moisture accumulates around your home’s perimeter, the likelihood of indoor leaks and flooding increase exponentially.
The infiltration of water or moisture into your home can be incredibly destructive and expensive.
When water builds up against your walls, it can:
- Cause cracks in the foundation
- Seep through any opening and enter the crawl space or basement
- Result in flooding during extreme weather events
The aftermath can result in health hazards, mold accumulation, and major structural damage.
Ways to Keep Water Away from Your Foundation
There are a number of maintenance actions you should take that will help keep water from reaching your foundation and entering your home.
Maintain Proper Gutter Position
Make sure that all of your gutters are cleaned out, free of blockages. When gutters are stuffed with leaves and other debris, stormwater won’t flow through. Instead, it fills to the brim and spills out.
Excess water escaping your gutters cascades down around the foundation, usually in high concentrations at certain spots on the ground.
Furthermore, your downspouts must be adequately moving water far from the home—not dumping it in close proximity to the foundation. If your downspout alone is not sufficient, add an extension so that the water is released at a greater distance.
Fill in Any Depressions Near the Foundation
Sometimes the soil around your home shifts or erodes. That movement can cause depressions or holes that attract water during storms.
If your yard has developed any of these depressions or holes, fill them in. Then, create a slope that directs water away from the foundation toward the rest of your yard. That way, water won’t flow towards the foundation or accumulate around your walls.
Repair Any Cracks or Holes in Your Home’s Foundation
Inspect the foundation for defects that could cause leaks. Repair them and establish an efficient seal around the home’s entire perimeter.
Examine the condition of any windows that are built into your foundation. Windows positioned below ground level can allow water to seep inside. Inspect them to ensure that they’re sealed properly.
If your windows are leaking, consider adding window wells if you don’t have them already. Window wells are hollowed-out areas around the foundation that block water from reaching the window area and properly drain moisture away.
Encapsulate Your Basement or Crawl Space and Maintain an Adequate Drainage System
If you’ve got a dirt floor crawl space, you might be in need of vapor barrier encapsulation. Encapsulation is the process of sealing off a crawl space against moisture by adding a floor barrier and sealing off vents.
Along with encapsulation, your crawl space or basement also requires sufficient drainage. This is especially important if your area experiences heavy rainfall.
Adding a drainage solution such as a French drain may be in order to help efficiently move water away from your foundation. A French drain is a trench that’s filled with gravel and piping, allowing water to naturally drain away from your home.
Drainage methods can be used in combination with a sump pump located inside the basement or crawl space.
Sump pumps are submersible pumps placed in a pit at the lowest point of the basement or crawl space. When groundwater reaches a certain level under the floor, threatening flooding, the sump pump is activated, sending the water outside through a discharge pipe.
Repairing and Preventing Water Damage in Your Basement or Crawl Space
When it comes to water damage, it pays to be proactive. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
If there’s any indication that your foundation isn’t well-guarded against water and moisture, tackle the problem before the next heavy rainfall.
Leaks and flooding in your home can be devastating. At Dry-Tek Environmental, we help Eastern Maryland homeowners with water damage recovery and prevention. Our mold removal, waterproofing, and drainage solutions help you to maintain a dry and safe living space.
If your crawl space or basement has been recently impacted by rainstorms, get in touch with us. We’ll help you address the damage and prevent it from happening again.
