Water is the enemy of your home, and any water where it doesn’t belong is an indication of a potential problem. During, or right after, a heavy rain, check the following:
- Check for roof leaks
o In the attic, especially around flashing
o Under the soffits
o Behind the gutters (between the roof and the gutters)
- Check for good flow through the gutters and downspouts, and no leaks
o No blockages (typically leaves)
o No split seams or gaps
o No dripping or leaking
- Check the downspouts for good flow away from the house
o Discharge into a sewer system without any back-up or leaking, or
o Discharge through extensions that move the water away from the house
o After discharge the water should readily move further away from the house, certainly not towards the house. The ground can shift over time, plants can raise the ground level and block water flow, and other changes could disrupt the flow of water away from the house.
- Check the basement
o There shouldn’t be any leaks or water coming in any way.
o In the summer, there should be a working de-humidifier removing moisture from the air so that there’s no condensation on cold surfaces, such as on outside walls or cold-water pipes.
o The sump pump (if present) should be working properly:
- Highest water level should be below the drain tile
- Pump working, with no leaks in the discharge system. The water should discharge well-away from the house, and not drain back towards the house.
- The sump should be reasonably clean. If soil is washing into the system it may not be functioning properly.
o Window wells shouldn’t have water in them.
Periodically (at least every year, preferably in early spring when any frost pressure on the walls is starting to subside) check the basement walls:
- Check for cracks. There shouldn’t be any new cracks and existing cracks should not have grown in width
o If there are cracks, document them. Take pictures with a tape measure laid over the cracks, so you can see the width. Save them so you can find them in future years.
o If the cracks, or the change in the width of cracks, is significant (ie, on the order of 1/16”, or the thickness of a penny) you should evaluate it more carefully. Check our other postings in this section for some helpful information. You may want to have an engineer take measurements and give you an opinion as to the steps that should be taken.
- The fundamental force causing the walls to crack is moisture, so go back to the top of this list and check for visible drainage problems. If there are no visible problems you should probably have a drain tile test conducted (if you have drain tile).
- Check for indications of moisture all around the basement walls, especially at the floor level, looking for staining, loose paint, and efflorescence (a build-up of mineral deposits; water moving through concrete products will dissolve some minerals, and these will be deposited when the water evaporates). As with the point above, go back to the top of this list and check for visible drainage problems. If there are no visible problems you should probably have a drain tile test conducted (if you have drain tile).