Base­ment Water­proof­ing Solu­tions — Fact vs. Fiction

Jan 29, 2012 • By Matthew Stock.

Over the past 50+ years, we’ve heard hun­dreds of the­o­ries on what caus­es base­ment water­proof­ing prob­lems and how to go about solv­ing them. Some of them sound quite plau­si­ble to the untrained ear. And some are utter­ly absurd.

I’ll leave out the absur­di­ties (as enter­tain­ing as they may be!) and instead focus on those that seem more real­is­tic. Many of them actu­al­ly orig­i­nate from peo­ple who you would think are ​“in the know”, such as plumbers, trades­men and archi­tects. Not to throw them under the bus; some are just mis­guid­ed. You wouldn’t want to call a water­proof­ing com­pa­ny to unclog your toi­let or design a new addi­tion. Base­ment water­proof­ing is a spe­cial­ized trade that takes years to ful­ly master.

Our com­pa­ny often par­tic­i­pates in home improve­ment shows. It’s a good way for us to rub elbows with the com­mu­ni­ty. We serve fresh cof­fee and chat with home­own­ers about their base­ment seep­age issues. It’s a good time. 

Base­ment Water­proof­ing Solu­tions We Often Hear:

​“I just need a sump pump…”

A sump pump is a great thing to have. But it doesn’t do any­thing for seep­age through foun­da­tion walls. Nor does it do any­thing for solv­ing foun­da­tion seep­age prob­lems if a drain tile sys­tem isn’t con­nect­ed into it. 

​“I just need to clean my gutters…”

This is a great home main­te­nance tip. If your gut­ters are kept clean and don’t tend to over­flow, they prob­a­bly aren’t the cul­prit. You may actu­al­ly get more mileage by hav­ing an under­ground down­spout exten­sion installed.

​“I was going to pick up some water­proof paint…”

This is one of the worst ideas. Paint­ing the inte­ri­or foun­da­tion walls will just trap the water. It might help a lit­tle bit with mois­ture and con­den­sa­tion (if your home was not built with foun­da­tion damp proof­ing), but expect no more than that. 

​“I just need to rod-out my drain tiles…”

That might be the case. First you have to deter­mine if you even have a drain tile sys­tem. A good place to start is by look­ing inside your sump pit for a drain inlet pipe. Assum­ing you found one, and your sus­pi­cion is cor­rect, it becomes a chal­lenge to unclog the sys­tem. Rod­ding rarely alle­vi­ates the prob­lem. And there’s noth­ing stop­ping the drain tile sys­tem from get­ting clogged again. 

​“My house sits on high­er ground than my neighbors…”

This one sounds log­i­cal and it might hold some water. Keep in mind, while some of the rain­wa­ter will flow down­hill, water will still be absorbed into the earth that sur­rounds your foun­da­tion. If your foun­da­tion wall is cracked, or your drain tiles are clogged, you might need to throw that idea right out the window.

Won­der what’s the prop­er way to go about fix­ing a base­ment seep­age prob­lem? Feel free to pay us a vis­it at the next home show. Cof­fee is on the house.

Tags: basement waterproofing solutions, basement waterproofing facts, home shows, how to choose a waterproofing company

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