For houses in areas with high water tables, you can sometimes see a hose snaking out to the street from the basement – a sure sign of basement pumping!

Wet basements mean heartache

If your basement is finished and gets water, then you know what a heartache a wet basement is.  Wet carpet needs to be dried (and may need to be replaced).  Wallboard may be so soaked to be deemed ruined.  Furniture and personal possessions may have been destroyed.

Even if a basement is unfinished, chronic water penetration is a real problem. Moisture can keep you from using the basement for storage and can rust mechanical system components.

Common basement water penetration problems

How to deal with basement water penetration depends on the type of problem your basement has. 

Below are some water penetration issues commonly found in Massachusetts.  (I am not a waterproofing contractor but have seen a lot of wet basements in my years as a real estate agent in Massachusetts.) Please consult a reliable expert before undertaking any water penetration mitigation work.

Water around bulkhead doors

Water coming in around bulkhead doors seems to be one of the most common water penetration problem affecting basements in Massachusetts.

This can be relatively easy to rectify. 

Basement stairs often are precast concrete attached to the exterior of the foundation.  Voids in the soil can form around the stairs letting in rain water.

Solutions can include caulking seams and filling voids with crushed stone.

 Holes can be drilled into the basement floor in front of the bulkhead doors to allow the water to drain away.  Larger drains opening to beds of crushed stone can also be cut in the same area.

Surface water runoff that is not being properly dispersed

Surface water with nowhere to go often produces relatively limited areas of basement wetness; often you’ll have one “trouble” area or corner of the basement that gets damp during heavy rains.

Solutions can be surprising simple: sometimes simply extending your gutter downspouts or re-grading the ground around the foundation will solve this penetration problem.

Heavier penetrations may require the installation of a sump pump in the troublesome area of the basement.

Crack in the foundation

Cracks are quite common in poured concrete foundations.  Most are non-structural and harmless.

Trouble comes when water begins to enter the basement from a crack.  This can occur repeatedly as a “weeping”, or suddenly when quite a volume of water invades your basement from a crack during a time of very heavy rains.

If your basement is finished, it can be very difficult to tell whether your problem is simply a crack or is a more serious water penetration issue stemming from ground water (see below).  You may have to cut some drywall away in the area of the water penetration to look for a crack.

Once you find the crack, it is a very easy fix: a crack-sealer company can do a permanent seal and give you a warranty – problem solved!

Ground water penetration into basement

This can be a much more serious problem.

When a basement floor is below the high point of the ground water table, the basement will likely flood during heavy rain events. In effect your basement is a leaky boat in the ocean; the ground water will keep coming in until it finds its level. 

If a large area of a basement repeatedly gets water, or if all of the basement floods to a uniform depth (one or two inches of water can be commonly seen with some really wet basements), the problem may be a high ground water table.

A sump pump may not be able to handle the volume of water entering a basement if the source is a rising ground water table.  The water will sit in your basement until the ground water table goes back down.

A perimeter drain system (also called a French drain) might be the only real solution for a basement that is within the ground water level.

Explore options before you sign a contract

If you think you need professional help to solve your basement water problem, please be careful with contractors.  Most are honest, helpful experts.  Some unfortunately seek to make a quick buck and prey on your anxiety. 

So get multiple quotes and sign no contracts in a rush.

I can refer you to reputable contractors – just ask!

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“RIB” read the recent post on what to do with wet basements in Massachusetts and asked for advice on how to diagnose a malfunctioning perimeter drain in his basement.

Perimeter drain not working

RIB’s basement flooded last week and still currently has standing water, despite the presence of a perimeter drain in it.

RIB thinks his perimeter drain’s underground outlet pipe may have been damaged or otherwise obstructed when a neighboring house was built some years ago.

R.I.B says:

“My question is how do I find the drain pipe to check it? The pipes are not on my house plan, my town has no maps on record and the builder moved out of state 12 years ago. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.”

How to find buried pipe?

You commonly see this issue with inspections of septic systems where the homeowner does not know where the septic system components are located and there are no “as built” plans at the local Board of Health.

Contractors in general also must frequently locate pipes and other underground objects before excavating.

How to find metal pipe

If the pipe is metal, your solution seems straightforward:

You (or the person you hire) could use a magnetic locator to track the run of the underground pipe and see where it is discharging, or identify where it was originally supposed to vent.

Does the following method really work?

There is an allegedly easy, inexpensive way to find metal pipe by using a metal coat hanger with magnets.

I have never tried this, and it may be bogus misinformation, but perhaps you could give it a try.

What if the pipe is plastic?

If the pipe is plastic you could employ a magnetic snake in conjunction with the magnetic locator.

Other devices used to find underground objects include ground-penetrating radar.

Does your drain go to a dry well?

RIB says that his perimeter drain pipe was designed to discharge water out onto the surface of the ground.

In my experience, some perimeter drains and sump pumps are constructed to send water into an underground dry well instead. 

So other homeowners with problematic drains may have no above-ground pipe outlets to find.

Other possible causes for drain problems

RIB may want to determine if a section of his underground pipe has been crushed.  Or perhaps the pipe has been infiltrated and blocked by roots.

RIB might do best to get a professional to service the perimeter drain system and determine what is wrong with it.

RIB: please let everyone know how you make out with this; it is good to share solutions to common problems!

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