Wet Basement Problems
There are not many things more frustrating than a basement that is damp—or worse—lets in water. There are many homes in Wichita with this problem. We ourselves had issues with this the first spring after we moved into a previous home many years ago. We bought the home in the summer when it was dry, but as soon as the spring rains came, we quickly found ourselves with 2” of water in the basement. It didn’t make sense, because the foundation walls were in great shape! We had a few hairline cracks, but nothing major.
Creating Positive Drainage
I started doing some research and it was looking like we would need to spend thousands of dollars to put in a french drain system and a sump pump to keep the water out. Another problem I noticed was that there wasn’t much, if any, slope away from the house. We decided we would first try to add dirt along the exterior of the house. We hired a local trucker to haul in 20+ tons of dirt. At first the pile of dirt didn’t seem that big, but after about 10 trips with the wheel barrow I realized the pile looked exactly the same size and decided it was pretty big afterall. It took my wife and I a couple Saturdays and a number of weeknights to finally get all the dirt moved. We piled and raked it next to the house and made a nice slope away from it. In some places we had to add about 12” next to the house. I felt good, though we were very sore after all that work!
Pleasant Results
Of course, all that work and then we didn’t see rain for a week. Then, finally, we got some! With butterflies in the pit of my stomach, I kept going down to the basement to see if we were getting water. Nothing. Then, another rain storm brought down close to 3”. I was nervous, but still, nothing. The sump pump didn’t even run! We were in that house for several years and never got any more water in the basement. We even finished the basement which was a great addition for our family.
From that experience, along with many other projects I have been a part of, here are some of my thoughts.
- Many basement water problems are caused because the rain water is not being guided away from the house.
- The first thing to try is adding a lot of dirt to ensure that the water can drain away from the home properly.
- Make sure your down spouts are kicking the water away from the house.
- Go overboard with the dirt (within reason) – it’s better to be safe than sorry!
What about you? Does your home have this issue? Have you solved a problem like this? I would like to hear your comments! Or maybe you don’t have this problem and you would like our team to finish your basement for you! Please leave your comments below!
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published June, 2017 and was updated April, 2022 for accuracy.
About 15 years ago, we would regularly have water sneak into our basement during heavy rainstorms. During one week of heavy rain in particular, my older brother figured out that he could dig a small downhill trench away from the house so that rainwater would drain through the trench and eventually into the street. The trench was about 10 feet long, 3-4 inches wide, and about 6 inches deep. After he dug that trench, the problem seemed to be fixed for the most part. Since the time when he dug the trench, we decided to have an aqua trench installed on the south wall of our home. That aqua trench has certainly fixed our rainwater problem.
That’s a great solution!