How to Stop Water in a Basement
- 1). Check your basement carefully for water leakage locations, cracks and drafts. When you spot one of these problems mark it with a piece of colored tape.
- 2). Make a note of what you need to fix the problems you found. For a crack in cement, you will need a cement crack repair kit. For cinder block or stone, you will need epoxy crack filler. You will require a sealant to cover all the basement walls and floors as well. Make your list and head to the home repair or hardware store.
- 3). Take your repair kit or epoxy filler and fill all the cracks and holes in your walls and floors according to the directions on the package.
- 4). Take your basement sealant and spray or paint it onto the walls and floors, being careful to get every spot covered, including corners.
- 5). Dig 10 small trenches large enough for 10-inch long PVC pipes to be placed facing down and away from the home. The trenches should be 5 inches at the outer walls of the foundation and slope deeper as it goes out from the house, down to 10 inches.
- 6). Place the pipes in the trenches so that water can be drained away from the home. Cover them with the dirt you dug out of the trenches.
- 1). Take enough fill dirt to raise the elevation several inches all the way around your home's foundation. Take a rake and slope the dirt down so that it slopes gradually. A general rule of thumb is 1 inch of fill per 10 feet of foundation wall.
- 2). Install a sump pump to make sure your basement stays clean and dry.
- 3). Check your basement regularly for future leak sources before they cause a problem and repair them right away.
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