Dany Daylight of the Waterproofing Foundation lends us his insight with 9 tips on keeping your basement dry:
* Place gutters on your home. Otherwise water will gather at the basis of your home, next to the foundation walls. If this occurs, the water may end up in the basement.
* If you happened to have a roof drainage system installed, make sure that it is functioning properly. Roof drainage systems effectively collect water off of the roof and send it to the downspouts. Make sure that the downspouts are transporting the water as far away from the home as possible.
* Where ever a paved area meets the foundation wall, apply some caulking or sealant. Caulk and sealant can play a bigger role than you may have expected in maintaining a dry basement.
* One reason you may be experiencing water problems in your basement may be because of “construction moisture”.
While installing a poured wall basement and floor slab there is about four hundred gallons of water in the concrete. In block construction, the floor slab would have about two hundred gallons of water.
This water escapes into your basement in the form of humidity. To help prevent this water vapor, circulate air into the basement and run a dehumidifier for three to five weeks. Humidity can play a major role in preventing you from having a dry basement.
* Another reason you may have water in your basement is due to the internal moisture. To reduce the moisture in your basement, you should make sure the plumbing is leak-free. Keep the doors going into your basement closed, and chemically or mechanically dehumidify the air. Be sure to empty the drain pan!
* Another area to check in your basement, are the window wells. Are they clean and well maintained? You may want to use plastic covers and metal housings for window areas.
* Check the ground around your home. Make sure that the ground has a positive slope of drainage away from the home. Dirt needs to be added around the home every couple of years due to settling.
* Another thing to be advised about is ventilation. As discussed earlier, concrete absorbs moisture. In the summer months, the humidity can make a basement damp or wet.
If this is a problem with your basement, a dehumidifier is the suggested cure, once again.
* If using a sump pump, make sure it works and is running in good condition. If you don’t have a sump pump, check into getting one.
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[...] When I came across Home Improvement Guy’s blog I didn’t realize I had so much to learn about basement waterproofing myself. He cited several helpful tips on keeping the basement dry from another reliable source, Waterproofing Foundation’s Dany Daylight. Daylight said that the primary waterproofing procedure is to install gutters around the house, which can actually prevent water to seep through the walls and into the basement. A carefully constructed and well-maintained roof drainage system will also effectively divert water away from the basement. One particular rule I abide by is that you can never have enough sealant in storage. Sealants and caulk come in handy especially during hard rains when you just need to patch up cracks in the walls and holes on the roof or ceiling — definitely a must-have around the house. [...]
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