Even though we have gone long stretches without rain, when we have had rain, it’s come down in buckets. Have water in your basement? Here are 5Things that allow water into your basement…

1 – Clogged gutters.  Clogged gutters cause rain water to overflow, falling directly at your foundation.  You’ve heard it before – keep ‘em clean!  ‘Nuff said.

Quick extra note – even if you have some sort of gutter protection, no matter what they advertise, gunk will still get into your gutters causing overflow problems.  You still should have your gutters at least looked at yearly.

2 – Downspouts that don’t extend far enough from the foundation.  Closely related to number 1 – while building code says the downspouts must extend at least 5 feet from the house (do yours even go 5 feet?), 10 feet is far better.

3 – Paved areas around the house that slope towards the house.  This is easy to spot – which way does your drive way slope at your house?  Especially check the little cement patio outside your walk-out basement door.  If you have sloping concrete due to settling or erosion all is not lost.  There are companies that can ‘float’ that concrete back into place fixing that problem…

4 – Faulty landscaping.  Your house should appear to be sitting up on a ‘turtle’s back’.  Most houses are initially constructed in this way, but erosion due to poor #1 - 3 eats away at that over time.  Eroded backfill is a huge culprit of foundation water issues.

5 – Irrigation system not properly aimed.  Does your sprinkler system shoot water at your foundation?  Does it cause erosion?  Does it leak?  Oy!