Jim Rooney On The Level

Q. I'm sure after the deluge of last week’s thunderstorms that you have been deluged yourself with people writing about flooded basements, etc. My neighbor suggested I write to you as you helped her daughter at her house when she wrote to you for help.

My problem seems to be getting exponentially larger each heavy rain we have. We have lived in this house for 20 years this August but only started having problems with water leakage since last August. During an exceptionally heavy rain last summer my son, who lives in the basement when he is home from college, woke up to the sound of rushing water. He found water flowing over the windowsill of the egress window in the basement. An area of the carpet, approximately 6 ft. by 6 ft., was saturated as more water kept pouring in. The most fascinating thing at the time was the window well - it was full of water almost up to the ground level - it looked like an aquarium window. Luckily the glass held but water came through around the window particularly at the lower left corner. We bailed the well out and next day bought a submersible pump for future rains.

This was the first time in 19 years of owning this 26 year old house that this ever happened. Since then we have water leaking in every time we have a heavy rain. We put several applications of heavy silicon around the window inside and out but the water still gets in.

With last week's rain not only did the window well fill up again with the subsequent water leaking in-- although we were able to keep it contained and not spill out onto the carpet-- but we also had water flood the unfinished area of the basement where the washer and dryer are. There is no window here-- the water just came down the wall at a corner-- starting right up at the ceiling line.

Now we have to worry about flooding from two opposite sides of the house. Do you have any suggestions for what the problem could be and how to go about getting it fixed? Could it just be our gutters-- although I did have my son climb up there about two weeks ago to clean them? Could we have cracks in the foundation walls? The fact that it is on multiple sides of the house has me in a panic.

I'm also curious if you can suggest a reason why the window well suddenly, after 19 years, stopped draining? We certainly have had heavy downpours throughout the last 20 years - why only in this last year would it fill up rather than drain?

A. You’re right-- anytime there is a heavy weather event my phone rings and email in-box fills up like with desperate pleas for help. I do what I can for folks and most of the time the fixes are basic.

In your case there are some things I can deduce right off the bat. You’ve been in this house 20 of its 26 years and only recently begun to have water intrusion problems. That tells me that originally the house was designed and built intelligently when it comes to preparedness for bad weather. Something has changed. But what has changed has done so very gradually and what changed recently came to a tipping point and that’s when water came rushing in.

I’ve been all over the world and in some wild weather and thought I’d seen it all but since I’ve been in Maryland I can tell you I’ve seen it rain as hard as in any jungle anywhere. We build houses with that in mind and mostly that gets done. Building codes have specific requirements for differing areas of the country and Maryland falls in an area identified that can receive some of the harshest variations of weather. The joke around here is if you don’t like the weather, just wait-- it’ll change-- and soon.

If your window well is filling up with water look up. I think you’ve got a gutter failure. The vertical line from the roof edge to the ground is called the drip-line. Water falling from the roof edge falls straight down with the force of gravity and water weighs eight pounds a gallon. Water lands away from the foundation when the gutters overflow as far from the foundation as the roof edge is from the side of the house-- where your window well is. It pounds its way into the ground next to the house and goes looking to seek its own level, usually into the basement such as your laundry area.

If the bottom of the window well was built with a drain it’s probably clogged. If it’s there it will have an inch and a half or two inch drain line that will connect with your sub-slab drainage system under the basement floor and drain into your sump pit. Look to see if that’s happening and if not you’ll have to snake out that drain line. Then prove that it’s draining with water test using a garden hose.

Additionally, look to see if the grade of the earth against your foundation walls tilt away from the wall. It should fall away at a rate of about an inch to the foot for at least six feet. Mulch doesn’t count. Folks pile mulch up against a foundation and it will look like it’s tilting away but in reality the soils underneath are tilting in the wrong direction and stormwater will flow toward the wall creating a leak.

Whenever you get water where you don’t want it resist the temptation of just looking at the water and look up. That's where it’s coming from. Put your raincoat on and go out and look while it’s raining. You’ll see what’s going on. Then you can take the steps to return your formerly dry basement to its original state.

Keep the mail coming. If you've got a question, tip, or comment let me know. Write "On The Level," c/o The Capital, P.O. Box 3407, Annapolis, MD 21403 or e-mail me at jimrooney@jimrooneyonthelevel.com or inspektor@aol.com.