Basements and crawl spaces improperly build can cause huge damages to a house or building, This article lists some of the related problems and causes.
- Roof water causes problems if there are no gutters installed or if the gutters leak or overflow. When the downspouts are clogged they are unable to drain water away from the foundation wall. If a downspout ends at the corner of the house without a splash pad, the rain water will seep into the soil next to the foundation wall instead or flowing away from the wall.
- Watering flower beds near the foundation wall too much can cause excess water to seep deep in the ground near the wall.
- Rainwater can drain toward the house instead of away from it if landscaping does not force it in the opposite way.
- Houses built on slopes are susceptible to gravitational groundwater flows and then the foundation wall acts as a dam causing water pressure to build up and force the water into cracks and joints of the walls.
- There are the obvious causes such as nearby creeks overflowing during storms that will build up in the ground and eventually force the water into the basement or springs that have not been drained properly that will also cause water to seep in through the ground.
- Drains underground that lead away from the downspouts sometimes don't have a good slope to carry the water away and eventually result in a build up near the foundation area.
- Soil continuously draws water up from the subsurface.
- Cracks in a foundation is the main reason for seepage in most basements.
- Do you have cracks in the walls?
- Do you have cracks in the floor?
- Is the water coming through the joint where the floor and wall meet?
- Crawl space foundations along with slab foundations very rarely have ever been waterproofed due to the relaxed building codes.
- This means no tar on the exterior walls of the foundation walls.
- And yes there is probably no drain tile around the perimeter of the foundation.
- There is no guarantee that there is a footing tile around a basement either however your chances of having a footing tile around a crawl space or slab foundation is very low.
- If you do have a footing tile is it collapsed, clogged, or improperly pitched?
