Anytime you have a basement, there is a chance that record rainfall will produce a wet basement.  Water can collect below the concrete floor and then finds its way into your basement.  In older homes, water can also penetrate though joints in cinder block walls.   

The standard remedy is the creation of a “French drain” around the perimeter of the basement.  By this I mean that a contractor (water proofing company) will dig a trench about a foot wide and a foot deep all around the inside perimeter of the basement.  This trench is filled with gravel and PVC piping with holes and a water trap that fits against the cinder block walls to catch any wall leaks and then wraps under the stone.  The theory of the design is that as water floats up from below the concrete or down cinder block walls; it is channeled into the water trap and into the PVC piping.  As water fills the piping, it flows to a four foot pit with a plastic container designed to collect the water.  There is a pump in the pit and it is connected to PVC pipe that goes to the exterior of the home and away from the property.  The pump ejects the water out of the pit and into the PVC pipe to the outside.  So water continually goes from inside the home to outside the home without ever touching the living area of the basement. 

It is important to note that the pump used to eject water out of the pit in the basement floor to the outside uses electricity.  Any interruption in the power source will stop the pump and put the basement living area at risk.  This can be solved by using a battery back up system for the sump pump.  The system is fairly fool proof then. 

Share This