When your basement gets flooded, it is best to deal with the problem
straight away, and to do so successfully, you will need at least some
basic knowledge of the reasons why basements fill with water.
Basement floodingis
an obnoxious problem that many households face on a regular basis.
Rather than dealing with it, however, many people prefer to wait and let
the problem go away on its own. Such an attitude is dangerous and can
have grave consequences for your home in the long run.
Research cites the following impacts:
Before
appropriate measures can be taken, it is important to identify the
causes of basement flooding. These range from problems originating in
the individual dwelling to problems associated with the municipal sewer
systems that serve entire communities.
Water
can enter your basement for a number of reasons. Water in your basement
is most likely to occur during periods of heavy rainfall, or when snow
is melting rapidly during a spring thaw. In these cases, your basement
can be wet because of:
Basement flooding may also occur because of:
Basements are also vulnerable to natural river flooding disasters, but these cannot be addressed by individual homeowners.
Basement
flooding problems are best diagnosed by working your way down from the
eavestroughs and downspouts, to the lot and foundation drainage, and
then to the plumbing system — both inside your home and beyond its
connection to the municipal sewer system.
Water
pours out of your eavestroughs into downspouts. If the downspouts are
dumping the water right beside your foundation, it drains directly to
the weeping tile and can easily overload your home’s drainage. Make sure
downspouts extend at least 1.8 m (6 ft.) from your basement wall. Also,
be sure the water does not drain toward your neighbour’s basement
walls. It should drain away from your house toward the street, rear
yard, or back lane. If your downspouts are connected to your home’s
sewer system, or weeping tile, disconnect them.
Clean debris from
eavestroughs regularly. If they overflow even when clean, replace them
with larger size eavestroughs and downspouts.
For more helpful information on this topic, check out the links below: