If you see that your basement leaks when it rains, you will want to take action immediately. Water damage can be extremely costly, especially if you let the water sit and turn into mold. Mold remediation, on top of water clean up, can cost you thousands of dollars.
The best thing to do would be to talk to a home foundation repair company. They will be able to asses the damage and determine whether there are cracks in your foundation, or if the water is seeping in through some other way. In this case, even a basement sump pump won’t be enough to help you.
Here are a couple of reasons why your basement foundation cracks in the first place.
- Saturated Soil. The soil that surrounds your house plays an important part in how your foundation shifts as it settles. One of the main reasons foundation cracks appear is when the soil is oversaturated, or too wet. When the soil has too much moisture, it expands and places pressure on the foundation walls, causing them to crack.
- Soil Settling. As your soil settles, moisture is not the only problem. The footings of the foundation are critical for holding up your house at the base of the walls. When these shift, they often cause cracks in the foundation wall.
- Lack of Moisture. This may seem contradictory, but when there isn’t enough rain or water for the soil, it tends to shrink. This is reportedly common for homes that have trees or shrubs planted near the edge of the foundation. The roots from these plants essentially steal the moisture from the soil for their own purposes. As a result, the footings settle, and the wall shifts and cracks.
After you contact a home foundation repair company, you may want to consider waterproofing exterior basement walls, and also interior ones. It may be a good way to prevent any future leakage.