Six Things You Should Know When You Waterproof Your Basement
Avoiding moisture buildup in your home's basement is essential to avoiding costly water damage in your home. Basement waterproofing can ensure that you maintain an impervious home and avoid all the health and safety issues that flooding and leaks can cause.
The following are six things you should know when you waterproof your basement:
A home's plumbing system is a common culprit when it comes to basement water damage.
Many issues with leaking and flooding in a home are caused by plumbing malfunctions. By having your home's plumbing system properly maintained, you can avoid catastrophic water problems in your home while also ensuring that your sinks, toilets, and faucets operate reliably.
It's important to start with the roof in your efforts.
Many homeowners make the mistake of assuming that flooding problems in a basement come from the ground or the floors immediately above the basement. In fact, water that floods a basement can often trickle down from roof leaks up above. Therefore, it's important to pay attention to roofing materials and gutter systems when aiming for a solution to basement water damage.
Keeping moisture away from the basement from the outside is important.
Many basement floods are caused by poor drainage in a yard. Ideally, soil in your yard should slope downward from your home to keep water from pooling around your yard and seeping into your foundation. Your gutter system is an important consideration when it comes to channeling precipitation away from your home's perimeter. However, you need to make sure your downspouts are emptying out well away from your foundation to protect your basement.
Humidity in a basement needs to be controlled for proper waterproofing.
Water from precipitation and plumbing fixtures is not the only issue that can lead to damage from moisture in a basement. Another big potential problem is humidity that builds up due to am atmospheric condition and a lack of adequate ventilation. If the air in your basement is too humid, you can have a dehumidifier installed to pull moisture out of the air and prevent moisture from soaking into basement surfaces.
Sump pumps are essential if flooding is a frequent problem.
It can be very difficult to waterproof a basement in homes that are located in a geographical area that's prone to flooding. If flooding is a frequent problem in your neighborhood, you need to have a sump pump in place to deal with flooding before it leads to water damage.
Any waterproofing procedures will require continued effort.
Basement waterproofing is not a once-and-done job. You will need to maintain home features like ventilation and plumbing equipment over time to ensure that your waterproofing efforts last.