10 Simple Ways to Prevent Basement Flooding

We recently had a surprise flooding of our basement. We are on city water and the water meter was spraying water all over the basement, including dowsing the hot water tank's flame. It's an unfinished basement that we use for storage and seldom go down there. If the lack of hot water had not alerted us, heaven only knows how much worse it could have been. As it turned out, only a washer needed to be replaced in the water meter connection (city's responsibility). We were warned, however, that the shut-off valve was corroding and would soon need replacing (homeowner's responsibility).

Our basement has had water in a few areas during heave rains but not as bad as the picture, thankfully! I added more dirt around the foundation and in one bad corner put a concrete curb to slope away from the house. Also added another downspout extender and dug a 3"-4" trench away from the corner. So far it has worked.

make sure your neighbor's gutters are not going into your property; which could go into your basement;

As a child, the home we lived in, almost always flooded, water coming back out of the drains in the basement, and boy would it get deep!! It was due to the county first and later the city mandating that drainage piping for the eaves had to flow on to your lawn not go down a pipe into the City drainage system. We finally had no choice but to finally call in a plumber who for that one-time charge, cut open the floor, and installed a ground-water sump pump and we never looked back.
Fast-forward to today - I am on the other side of the country and what my present city now recommends you to do is install a back-flow preventer and typically it goes in a box in the basement floor so that it can be occasionally checked to make sure that the flap that allows water to leave but not flow back into the house, is not blocked by something thus defeating the purpose of the back-flow preventer!

few yrs back came home from the hot state of Ariz; after a week of being gone....live in a 1910 carriage house; basement paid off halfway up on furnace....had to crib it...thank the lord i knew how...3 weeks of buckets...5 gal...to get out...because it has no real foundation am trying to figure out ways to keep water away from house...what a pain....but success will feel so wonderful

I am a flood and water disaster management paraprofessional. In my experience the best defense for flooding in your basement or crawl space begins with your gutters, get the water three or four feet away from your house so that any standing water is at least three or four feet away. The next line of defense is the grading around your house make sure that you have 3 or 4 inches of fall in the soil around your house so that there is no standing water three or four feet around your house. Do not be fooled by your landscape mulch or rock if the soil underneath falls back to the house seawater will also it needs to be backfilled. This usually alleviates most problems keeping water from getting to the foundation itself. If you have an east or south facing gable so that rain can blow against the house bypassing gutters you may want to put plastic under your landscaping to keep that three or four foot barrier around your house dry on top of the backfill. I do agree with the comment previously there any cracks in the foundation need to be filled to avoid getting moisture in the crawl space. With that said I categorically refute opening the foundation vents " Ever ". Because in the summer when it's hot and humid the humidity outside is drawn into the cooler crawlspace and then condensates on all the metal piping water lines, air conditioning, gas lines causing moisture in crawl space that over time can lead to mold growth and wrought. When we do repair and clean up we usually cover over the vents with plastic running down the foundation wall starting at the floor joist and then covering all the dirt to avoid moisture coming up from the ground turning the crawl space into a semi conditioned space. In the winter months the heat will naturally dry it out and it will stay dry as long as moisture does not get inside the crawl space, and you can maintain that semi conditioned space. Then you will not need to call someone in such as myself to repair damages :-).

Thank you for the post. If your basement has flooded, there are some really relevant things you should know. When in doubt, don't enter the flooded area until you are told it is safe . First and foremost, you have to consider your family's health and safety because entering a wet basement could be dangerous. Therefore, before you enter your basement, you have to consider if there is an electrical shock or structural damage. This is to ensure your family's safety and avoid accidents to happen. To shun basement flooding in the future, you should reduce household water use during heavy rains and seal the cracks in your foundation walls and floor.