You may not think of your gutters when your home’s basement is underwater, but clogged gutters can become a serious matter if overlooked or neglected. When these gutters become clogged, they can lead to overflow and that can lead to real damage like flooding in your basement causing the need for extensive basement repair. And recovering from a flooded basement isn’t exactly what most home owners have in mind when they are considering a major home improvement or remodeling project in Syracuse.
Moisture in a basement can create mold and mildew not to mention it can ruin walls flooring materials. Moisture can make it impossible for you to have a usable space that you could use as a living space. To make matters even worse, a wet basement wall can become a structural liability if not resolved, and it can make it difficult or impossible to sell your home.
For many, the most common method to help prevent basements from having a water problem is to waterproof the walls. Not all wet or leaky basements require adding waterproofing as a solution. Quite often, the source of wet basement walls or a leaky basement is from the outside of the home. You may find that improper roof drainage, improper ground slope, or gutter overflow may be causing your problem.
For overflow of rainwater to end up in your basement there are a number of ways this can happen. Gutters that are not properly installed like mounted to a wall rather than a soffit can cause overflow water to leak into the wall of the home and down to your basement. Another thing that can happen is the development of ground trenching. This occurs when rainwater continuously hit onto the ground below the roofline. Over time this can move dirt and create a trench that often can run the length of the gutter. If this issue is not resolved then your basement walls will develop cracks and water can seep into your basement and now you have flooding.
To keep your basement from taking on water that you don’t want and to keep damage to your residence to a minimum then you need to consider keeping your gutters clean. The most effective way to do this is to install a proven “gutter guard” or gutter protection system to keep debris from gathering. A quality gutter system will make gutter maintenance a thing of the past. Their gutter protection guides rainwater down into the trough while deflecting debris and leaves to the ground.
If the issue comes from improper drainage outside the home. Roof downspouts can add a literal flood of water to areas prone to drainage problems. A roof that is 1500-square-foot will shed about 940 gallons of water into a 2-inch rainstorm. If we assume an average house has 4 downspouts, you may have as much as 235 gallons of water pouring out of one downspout. Often, all this water is dumped at the base of the foundation.
To eliminate this from being an issue installing a downspout with a long horizontal extension can channel rainwater well away from the foundation and into the yard when it can be absorbed by the ground and away from the house.
