5 Things You Need to Know About Basement Flooding

If You Read One Article About Basement Flooding Read this One

“After the landscaper regraded our yard at a cost of over $5,000 we flooded again”

1. Basement flooding: is it caused by surface water or  by ground water?

The first thing you need to know is that it all starts with rain. Rain divides into to categories: surface water and ground water. Some rain lands on impermeable surfaces like roofs and driveways. Something that is impermeable does not allow water or liquid to pass through it and this is surface water. The rest of the rain lands on lawn or on the garden which are permeable and allow the water to pass though and become ground water.

2. A lot of ground water causes a high water table.

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• Most people know that the water table has something to do with ground water.
• The word table provides an image of a flat surface, like the surface of a tabletop.
• The water table is always there down below your basement and when it rises basement flooding occurs.
• After heavy rainfall or snow melt, and as the rainfall continues, the water table rises below your house and becomes a high water table.
• A high water table is common in areas where the soil is not well drained due to high levels of clay.

3. It doesn’t rain on your house alone.

• When the water table rises, it does not just rise at your house, because it did not rain on your house only.
• Because it rains over a wide area water table typically covers a wide area.
•  The rain usually falls over a wide area of many square miles so all this water goes into the earth at the same time.
• Water tables can become elevated and cause basement flooding when they receive more water than they drain off.
• This can be from unusually high amounts of rain, or excess water from higher elevations.

4.  You are powerless over the high water table.

• High water tables are often above the level of basement floors or crawlspaces.
•  When the water table rises up to the level of your basement there is nothing you can do to stop it.
• This almost always causes basement flooding in these areas.
• The next time you see a puddle in the yard after a 2 day soaking rain, remember the water table.
• It is very likely that the puddle is the top of the water table that has temporarily exceeded the grade of the yard.

5. Re-routing the surface water is good but it won’t stop the basement flooding water table.

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• Surface water can often be diverted away from your home by grading and extending out the leaders and downspouts.
• The ideal grading is a minimum 1″ per foot from the home for the first 10 feet and then a gradual decline of 1” per 10 feet is achieved.
• A few bags of topsoil  to pump up your flower beds and landscape beds adjacent to the house to make the slope as deep as possible.
• Properly cleaned &  maintained gutters and downspouts extending at least 10 feet from the home won’t prevent basement flooding, but it will help.