What are Basement Waterproofing Systems?
What are basement waterproofing systems and how do they work? For answering that question it will help to first take a look at historically conventional basement waterproofing and the way it was supposed to work.
If you imagine how a basement is first built, when the house it is sited in was first conceived, then basically the following happens:
If you can see a home being built the contractor first surveys the lot using the blueprints for the home to be built; then he sights out the lot to find out the best place to start digging and grading the property, then he lays the footer or foundation and begins building the basement walls, lastly the balance of the home follows.
From this list the most vital point is the top one - the vast crater dug in the earth
When basement walls are constructed there is an area outside the walls that must be filled. Loose backfill is used to fill in the gap. No matter how well the backfill is compacted, it is still backfill and water seeks the places of little resistance.
This area is going to have water constantly seeping into it. The conventional basement waterproofing system provides some form of drainage pipe for this water to drain away, but the problem with this is that often these pipes get silted up. The water is naturally bringing all sorts of suspension with it. Allowing these pipes to fill up, can result in an overload of the system, which can be catastrophic to the basement’s outside walls. So while the walls of the basement may be waterproofed in some way, water, as you probably already know, will usually find a way through the tiniest of gaps.
This type of problem doesn’t usually go away because the pipes that are supposed to take away the excess water gradually worsen over time.
A huge problem is that often there isn’t access to these pipes. To keep water out of a basement, waterproofing is also applied to the external walls. This is also called a tanked system.
If you want to find out if you have water inside the concrete block of your walls simply tap a hole into the concrete block, near the floor, and see if you have water coming out of this block then you may want to consider a drained cavity waterproofing system this system drains the water from your walls, much the same way you just did, by adding drain holes in the bottom blocks that allows those areas to drain into a type of interior french drain system. Water is controlled, collected and allowed to flow through hidden drainage channels either to natural drainage or to a sump pump where the water is removed away from the property.
The waterproofing systems for basement are better systems because they are installed internally and have easy access ports for removing the silt etc. It takes minimal disturbance to the original basement where traditional tanking or other methods have failed.
So to summarise, a good basement waterproofing system will:
- a permanent or long term fix
- stop both ways by which water can enter through the walls and up from the floor
- not disturb landscaping, decks, patios, driveways, etc
-an approved method by home loan lenders
-more affordable than other methods
Choose a reputable basement waterproofer when protecting your home, remember it is economically foolish not to waterproof, because the increased value from waterproofing will definitely exceed the cost of the waterproofing.
While you are getting the house made you need to realize that waterproofing is more of an investment in the value of your house rather then an expense.
This will simplify the use of basement waterproofing systems. Teach yourself the important steps and get an environment lacking problems by visiting a basement waterproofing systems website, a website describing the plus and minus points of a water proofing system.
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