The drought this year is real. How can a basement flood with no rain? The CrackDaddy explains.
Narrator: It’s time once again for the “Crack Man Podcast” hosted by A1 Foundation Crack Repair. I’m Darren Kincaid here with the Crack Daddy himself, Adam Tracy. Adam and The Crack Man Rich have over 30 years’ experience in the construction industry. Rich as over 25 years as the president and founder of A1 Foundation Crack Repair. This podcast provides expert basement waterproofing, concrete repair, and preventative maintenance tips for homeowners and businesses. A1 Foundation’s valuable insight will help avert a disastrous flood within the basement, health problems associated with water infiltration, and protect your biggest investment….your home. The topic of today’s podcast: There is 2-inches of water in my basement during a drought. How does this happen?
Narrator: So, Adam, the drought is real. How can a basement flood with no rain?
Adam: Well, we’ve kind of covered this a couple times this summer because the drought has been going on for so many months. But this is an actual case study and it’s happening in real time.
We had a customer in Milton MA, call us up and say, “You know I have one and a half, two inches of water in my basement. And you know, I’ve checked all my plumbing, it’s not coming from anywhere inside, you know, it’s got to be coming from somewhere outside. What do I do? I need you to come out and take a look at this.” So, the first thing is that we haven’t had rain in months. So for you to have two inches of water, all of a sudden in your basement is a bit curious.
The first question I asked was, “Do you have a sprinkler irrigation system?” And they said, “Nope, no irrigation in the yard.” So that immediately ruled out any sort of broken pipes of an irrigation, or a broken head that might be spraying against the foundation. I told him to walk around the interior of the foundation. Again, make sure all the pipes inside didn’t have any drips or anything on them. And he confirmed that there was no water leak coming from any of these PVCs, piping, any water lines inside, or any sewage lines either.
This automatically led to it being a ground water issue, as it was coming in where the floor and the wall met, around the perimeter of the house. So somehow the house was sitting in a pool of water and exposing all the flaws of the foundation. Now, this is a brand new problem for this homeowner. They’ve been there for eight years, so they have not had this type of water event, and so that it was happening during a flood, led me to believe that it was an issue where potentially, could be a water line break from the main going out to the street.
I asked if they had contacted the DPW of this town and they said, “Yes, but they won’t come out until somebody looks at the foundation.” So, I said, here’s what you need to do. And we suggest this to happen for everyone who has water on an odd event, like a drought, like this. It’s to collect the water sample. I asked them if they were on well or if they’re on city water, and they have to be on city water. They were able to collect the water and bring it to the DPW, and the DPW can test right there if there’s chlorine or fluoride in it. Because if it has chlorine or fluoride in it, it’s treated water from a municipal source, it’s required by many towns and cities to have both of those in there, so it’s not found naturally in well water or not found in groundwater. So, if it has chlorine or fluoride in it, it's an immediate indication that this is, in fact, a water line break. And that’s what happened.
They found that there was both chloride and fluorine in there, and the DPW came out, found that there was a water line break between the main connection and the house, and they had to dig out the lawn, and basically correct the action. They found that it was leaking for probably about 10 days and then created a large amount of water in the yard. So they were able to resolve the issue in the water immediately coming in. And now we have to come back and figure out where the main issues are in the foundation, but this thing can happen in certain situations so it’s really important to do detective work and figure out how this water is coming in and what the sources may be, because it may be a much larger municipal issue at play.
Narrator: Thanks Adam, for explaining how a basement can flood during a drought.
Narrator: If you have a basement water problem and think you need a professional, or, if you’d like more information on foundation crack repair and basement waterproofing topics, please visit A1FoundationCrackRepair.com or call Rich at (866) 929-3171. Or you can email Rich at info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.