I Want to Fin­ish My Base­ment, but I Have Seep­age! What Should I Do?

Jan 31, 2023 • By Matthew Stock.

Get­ting seep­age in your base­ment after a rain or snow melt is a depress­ing sit­u­a­tion. The hours of cleanup make you won­der if it’s even worth fin­ish­ing your base­ment. There are many ways that seep­age can enter a home and unfor­tu­nate­ly, you may have more than one of those issues! 

How Seep­age Can Get Into Your Basement

The most com­mon issue caus­ing seep­age in base­ments are cracks in the foun­da­tion walls.

Foun­da­tion cracks are caused from either soil expand­ing due to too much rain, or from freeze and thaw cycles, where the ground expands as it freezes and shrinks when it thaws. Droughts can also be a major cause of foun­da­tion cracks and struc­tur­al prob­lems as the ground shrinks as it los­es mois­ture con­tent caus­ing the foun­da­tion to move. Anoth­er com­mon way seep­age can enter is through the cove joint (where the floor and wall meet). These issues can all be repaired indi­vid­u­al­ly, or you be proac­tive and do your best to pre­vent future dam­age in your base­ment with a com­pre­hen­sive solution.

Best Com­pre­hen­sive Solu­tions for Base­ment Seepage

U.S. Waterproofing’s Fast Track Sub­floor Drainage Sys­tem could be the key to solv­ing your seep­age prob­lems. Our Fast Track sys­tem is designed to cap­ture water seep­ing through the cove joint or through cracks in the foun­da­tion walls. The process for installing Fast Track is to cre­ate a small trench (approx­i­mate­ly 8” wide) in the base­ment floor along the foun­da­tion wall. Fast Track is placed on top of the foot­ing (the widened con­crete base the foun­da­tion walls rest on), then stone is placed next to the Fast Track to act as a nat­ur­al fil­ter to keep debris out of the slit open­ings through which the seep­age is col­lect­ed. Con­crete is poured over the trench and is smoothed to meet the exist­ing con­crete floor. The trench extends to a sump basin where all col­lect­ed water is direct­ed to. Once in the sump basin the water is dis­charged out of the home.

Alter­na­tive­ly, our For­ev­er Flow Drain Tile sys­tem is sim­i­lar in oper­a­tion, but requires a wider, deep­er trench with the drain tile placed next to the foun­da­tion foot­ing. Tra­di­tion­al Drain tile is the cor­rect solu­tion when there is water com­ing up through cracks in the floor, when there is an unusu­al­ly high vol­ume of seep­age, with brick or stone foun­da­tions as well as some less com­mon issues.

Is Fast Track the Prop­er Solu­tion for Your Basement?

Seep­age in a fin­ished base­ment can ruin dry­wall, floor­ing, fur­ni­ture, and cause mold growth. There­fore, if you want peace of mind, a fin­ished base­ment should have a com­pre­hen­sive solu­tion that can han­dle a num­ber of seep­age prob­lems. Fast Track is a more eco­nom­i­cal, less intru­sive, com­pre­hen­sive solu­tion for most seep­age prob­lems when com­pared to a Drain Tile sys­tem. Hav­ing an expert assess and explain the spe­cif­ic issues in your base­ment will help you make an informed deci­sion. U.S. Water­proof­ing has been diag­nos­ing and repair­ing base­ments for over 65 years and will help you turn your wet base­ment into a dry liv­ing space to enjoy. With over 500,000 hap­py cus­tomers, you can rest assured that you are in the best hands. Sched­ule your free esti­mate online today!

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