It's very concerning for a homeowner to find water in their basement when they never saw it before or haven't seen it in a very long time. Is it inevitable that a basement will leak at some point? Adam explains.
Narrator: It's time once again for the Crackman podcast, hosted by A1 Foundation Crack Repair. I'm Darren Kincaid and I'm here with the crack dad himself, Adam Tracy. Adam has 20 years of experience in the construction industry and as a civil engineer is A1 Foundation’s resident engineer on staff, solving a plethora of unique foundation problems every day. This podcast provides expert basement waterproofing, concrete repair, and preventative maintenance tips for homeowners and businesses. A1 Foundation's valuable insight will help avert the disaster of a flooded basement, health problems due to water infiltration, and protect your biggest investment, your home. The topic of today's podcast: Why is my foundation leaking now when it never has in the past?
Narrator: So Adam, it has to be very concerning for a homeowner to find water in their basement when they never saw it before. Is it inevitable that a basement will leak at some point?
Adam: Yeah, I don't know if it's going to be inevitable, but what will happen is if you have any sort of flaw in the foundation, like a foundation crack, floor cracks, maybe you had a septic line or a sewer line replaced at one point in time, or maybe you did a home repair on a crack before you remodeled your basement, these foundation issues generally will pop up.
Now, this spring, and very early spring, has been a very challenging early spring for a lot of homeowners. We've been receiving hundreds of calls over the last few weeks regarding, “Oh geez, I had this crack that my uncle patched up for me years ago and it’s been fine for 20 years and now it’s leaking. Why is it leaking now?”
Or, “We had this crack here in the foundation and it’s never leaked. We’ve never ever had to worry about it and now I’m about to sell my house and of course it’s leaking. Is something going on? What do I need to worry about?”
The reality is this winter has been really tough on foundations, which is why I always recommend people get ahead of these situations, because the wintertime is where the freeze-thaw damage actually occurs.
In this case, this winter, because we had such a deep freeze and we had a decent snow pack, which has been kind of an anomaly over the last five years, all these foundation issues got worsened.
When you have these heavy freeze-thaw cycles or deep freeze cycles in the wintertime here in New England, any exposed foundation issues, such as a foundation crack, will generally get worse if they’re not repaired properly.
So when Uncle John came in and packed hydraulic cement in the crack in 2004 and it seemed to be holding up okay, well now, because it wasn’t done all the way through and it didn’t actually prevent water from getting into the exterior and causing a freezing effect, now that opens up and you’re starting to see water coming in.
It’s also been a little bit rare where we actually had a normal spring this year. In the last few years, it’s been kind of a very dry early spring, but we’re kind of trending towards a more normal average spring, which means April showers bring wet basements.
With these types of foundation issues, now we’re starting to see the ones that were either improperly repaired, unprofessionally repaired, or never repaired and were just kind of an eyesore to the foundation, they’re actually now real problems because water is coming in, damaging finished basements, and causing real damage and real pain and suffering for homeowners.
So look around your foundation. Now is the time to get it repaired because it’s not going to get better on its own.
There’s only two types of cracks: ones that leak and ones that are going to leak — we just don’t know when.
Get ahead of them now, save yourself a bunch of money, and make sure it doesn’t become a big insurance claim for property loss.
Unfortunately, this is the reality we live in and a lot of foundations are getting wet. Make sure you talk to a trusted resource like A1 Foundation Crack Repair to figure out the next steps for keeping your basement dry.
Narrator: Thanks Adam for explaining why a basement can suddenly spring a leak when it never has before.
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 Adam at (866) 929-3171 or you can email Adam at info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.