Why your basement walls leak

What causes water to leak into a basement? It’s easy to blame a wet basement on mistakes made during a home’s construction process, but that’s rarely the case. 

Instead, you should blame the inherent nature of your basement: the materials that are used and the way that it is situated below ground:

• Basements are boxes built with cinder-block, stone or poured concrete and buried into loose and wet soil. Due to a phenomenon known as the "clay bowl effect" groundwater tends to accumulate outside the basement.

• Concrete is a porous material, so groundwater can infiltrate it and evaporate into the basement. Concrete also tends to shrink and crack as it cures which creates more opportunities for water intrusion.

• The mortar holding stone and block walls together tend to weaken and crumble due to soil and foundation movement. Water also tends to accumulate inside hollow cinder-blocks.

In other words, your basement leaks because there is too much water surrounding it.

In the rainy Pacific Northwest, a leaky basement is an all-too-common problem for homeowners, especially with older houses. There are countless ways you can temporarily fix the problem, but for a permanent solution, you’ll need to talk to a local professional.

TerraFirma can help with any water problems you might encounter in your basement or crawl space. Contact us today to schedule your free estimate!