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Ask the Remodeler: How to keep melted snow out of your basement
A few expert tips for keeping your basement dry this spring.
The good news with all the warmer weather we’ve been experiencing recently is that the snow is melting. The bad news is that the melting snow often comes with spring rains, and that combo can wreak havoc in ways we would not anticipate if this were a normal winter. When 2 or more feet of snow melts in a short period of time, followed by heavy spring rains, water can get into our homes in a number of ways.
The following are a few tips that may help you keep your home drier as the inevitable spring melt/rain cycle gets underway.
Short-term solutions
- Basement window wells: These can be notorious ways for water to get into your home. These are literally holes in your foundation located below ground level. Obviously, there is a window installed in the opening, but when you pack 24 inches of snow into the window well, it’s not difficult for the melt water to make its way in around the window. A couple of things to consider here. One is to keep it clear of snow, which means shoveling out the window well. Not the easiest task since they are below grade, but it is important to keep these clear. Some removable window well covers are inexpensive and can be taken off in the spring when you may want to open the window. Something else that we often see lacking is an 8- to 12-inch stone bed at the bottom of the window well. When we install window wells or repair them, we would dig at least 12 to 16 inches below the window and fill that with stone. That helps drain the water away quickly and keeps moisture-laden earth away from the window.
- Gutters and downspouts: We are big believers in yearly or even twice-yearly gutter cleaning and inspections. The gutters and downspouts should be clear and free of leaf litter at the end of fall. We also encourage clients to install leader pipes that pull water away from the foundation, not just dump it in the corners of the foundation where it can make its way into the basement. This time of year, it is recommended to get out and make sure the downspouts aren’t buried in snow and ice or that they haven’t become disconnected at the joints after the harsh winter. It is so important to pull water away from the house at every downspout termination point.
- Bulkheads: In the past, we have found these can be problematic for two reasons. The first is the bulkhead cover, which can be metal and either rusted out or improperly installed. It is not uncommon at all to find some that are made of plywood, and those are rarely weather-tight. There are many companies out there that can custom install a new prepainted bulkhead door. Another issue is the foundation and stairs that the door sits on. Newer bulkheads have concrete foundations, maybe even a precast unit. These hold up very well and rarely leak. Too often, however, the foundations are cinder blocks (older ones can be stone foundations) and are not properly sealed on the outside, allowing moisture and water to get in. If the foundation is an issue, it is difficult to fix without a major excavation project. Probably the most cost-effective and least invasive approach is to replace the door at the bottom of the bulkhead with a shorter one that has a curb that can hold back any water that might pool at the bottom. This is not a perfect solution, but it’s worth trying before launching into more serious fixes.
Long-term solutions
- French drains: Sort of the Cadillac of basement drain systems, these are basically an underground gutter system for your house. The concept is simple. The entire perimeter of your basement will have a layer of stone roughly 12 inches deep with a perforated PVC pipe nestled into the stone bed. This perforated pipe will pick up the ground water that rises around your home’s foundation and bring it to a sump pump located in a utility area in your basement. The sump pump will discharge the water to the outside of your house. As I noted earlier with the downspouts, the discharge pipe for the sump pump should be extended as far as is practical from your home’s foundation. A properly installed French drain will also have a drainage mat that extends up the wall 12 inches or more. The idea behind the drainage mat is that it will pick up any water that may get into the foundation walls and divert it down into the French drain system.
The drawback to the French drain system is that it is costly to install and very invasive. They are great systems to install when the home is being built. They are difficult to install in an existing home that most likely has utilities, storage shelves, closets, or worst yet, a finished basement. That is because you need to cut the concrete floor back 12 inches off the wall, excavate the dirt out of the trench, and install the pipe, stone, and sump pump pit. Once the system has been tested, the floor has to have the trench cut filled with new concrete, poured flush with the existing floor. As you can imagine, this takes a lot of coordination and commitment from the owner. If the basement is being remodeled and the space needs to be cleared anyway, a French drain should be strongly considered.
- Sump pumps: Not everyone has a high water table around their home, or can install something as elaborate as a French drain. A far less costly alternative that you may want to consider first is just the sump pump. This is basically just the business end of the French drain system. It would be installed in the same way, only without the perimeter pipes leading into it. The sump pit will be roughly 24 inches wide and 24 inches deep. Because the bottom of the pit is so far below the basement floor level, it often can pick up the rising water table before it gets to the basement floor height. The sump pump will then discharge the water to the outside of the house. This can be an approach you try first before going with a French drain.
- Battery backups and dedicated circuits: We always install a battery backup with all our sump pumps. It is not required, but we figure there is a good chance the power will go out during a storm, and that is around the time you will need the sump pump to work. They are simple to install and typically have a 6- to 8-year work span before needing to be recharged. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you consider that the sump pump is only pumping periodically for 5 to 8 seconds at a time, you should get a few days worth of power.
We also strongly advise the sump pump be on a dedicated electrical circuit. The pump should not be tied into any other circuits that could be tripped inadvertently. That can and has happened where the owner was unaware that a circuit was tripped and the pump did not work for 12 hours, leading to water in the basement.
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