If there ever were a double-edged sword, it would be water. Water is essential and integral to life, but it also has the power to make our lives miserable. Here in the DC Metro area it has been raining for three weeks, and folks are getting weary of this much H2O. For centuries mankind has worked to keep water outside their dwellings, “where it belongs” as a friend with flooding problems wryly said recently. Today’s new homes should not leak or let a drop enter their envelope. As houses age, however, they can become the battleground for man against water.
To understand the problem, let’s take it from the ground up. Due to a wet summer plus Hurricane Irene and the weeks of rain afterwards, many of us have discovered that our basements are more porous that we thought. In normal circumstances, rain falls on the roof and is concentrated in gutters and funneled to the downspouts. From there it either spills on the ground or, optionally, is directed into leaders that take it away underground. In either case it’s important that it should be headed downhill away from the foundation of your house. If any part of the gutter system malfunctions, it can cause serious problems.
Recently I picked up a recording on my phone mail, and the voice sounded discouraged: “I’ve got a damp spot in the corner of my basement, and this house is only five years old. It is not an emergency, but it’s in the kids’ playroom. Every time we have a big rain now, that corner gets wet, and it seems to be spreading. And I am worried about mold. Should I call a water proofing company?”
Returning the call I asked, “Sam, How are your gutters doing?” “I have them cleaned three times a year, for G—’s sake,” he said. Then I asked Sam if he had ever taken a walk around his house in the rain. Owning a house should not be regarded as a passive endeavor. “You have to keep an eye on things,” I lectured my friend. “You should have the opportunity to take a look when you get home tomorrow. It is supposed to rain again all day. Grab a raincoat, an umbrella, and a flash light if necessary, and check out what’s happening with your gutters.”
It did rain the next day, and my next phone message reported, “What a humdinger we had last night, and I’ve got some digital photos to show you. Check out your email. You were right.” What I saw was what I had expected. A homeowner, however, don’t always look out for these things. One photo showed a cascading waterfall along half the run of Sam’s second story gutter. The other photo showed what looked like water erupting from a pipe in the ground with a downspout dumping into it. A visit to the house revealed that one of the downspouts had a clog in it, causing water to back up and overflow the gutter.
The gutter was clear of debris, but the clog was ten feet down and invisible in the down- spout. Workmen who clean gutters sometimes miss hidden clogs. In the other area, which was directly over Sam’s basement wet spot, the underground pipe was clogged deep down out of sight. Both of these clogs, probably leaves, would let drainage from a light rain through but had become compacted and swollen in heavy rain and began to back up water. In this case, the water overflowed right along the foundation in a location where there was also a high pile of mulch which dammed up the water and enabled it to run down the foundation wall to the basement floor level.
Modern homes have waterproofing on the foundation walls and foundation drains that should carry away water that flows down to that level. However, this system is not water-tight, and when we have lots of rain the water table can rise. If the water from the gutter system is not carried away from the house, then it adds additional water pressure. Happily, there was an easy fix.
We snaked the downspout and the under ground pipe, and, sure enough, out came handfuls of sodden leaves and hickory nuts, what had once been a comfy squirrel’s lair. In the basement, a small amount of the water was getting though to dampen the drywall. We directed a fan on the wet drywall in an area only about four square feet. No mold formed. It was dry within a couple of days. My next phone message was gratifying: “We did not take in any water this time. I am going to keep an eye on my gutters in the future. Many thanks.” We may have averted a bigger problem.
Water creates channels, and the more frequently it runs down the foundation wall, the faster it flows. Pretty soon it has created a relatively irreversible vertical channel. We caught this one in time. So my advice is this: Keep an eye on the outside of your home. Watch how the water flows out of your gutters and downspouts. Be sure it is flowing away from the house. Have your gutters cleaned by a reliable contractor. Three times a year is typical.
This is not the end of the story: There are serious environmental concerns about storm water and where it runs from there, but that’s the subject of another discussion.
