Causes of a Wet Basement

There are many causes of a wet basement. The most common and prevalent cause is something called hydrostatic pressure. This is simply a fancy term for the soil that absorbs water and retains it. It swells the soil causing it to become heavier and lean against your walls. Sooner or later the pressure can cause cracks in your walls or for the water to be squeezed downwards so that it burbles up through a drain. This type of water can also seep through your walls as if through osmosis and make stonewalls in particular appear to be sweating. 

Another common cause of a wet basement is a heavy rain. In this case the soil can become oversaturated with moisture and your basement can become flooded. It is common for eaves troughs that need to be cleaned to spill too much water down the side of the house causing leaks into the basement. 

Don’t estimate the power of melting snow to flood a basement. Although the white frosty stuff is no threat to your basement when it is cold, the minute a thaw takes place there is usually a terrible deluge of water. 

Broken pipes are also not to be overlooked when it comes to a leaking business. Sometimes water can spill from a place you have never even considered so make sure that damaged pipes aren’t the problem before you start ripping up walls to find the source of what you believe is water damage caused by hydrostatic pressure.