Why is your basement leaking? A basement is a good idea for more rooms in a limited land. Most people use a basement at home for a car garage or a warehouse. But of course, with a little more effort, a basement can be a stunning bedroom or even a living room.
Unfortunately, building a basement means you must be ready for problems that often follow it. One of them is leakage.
Leakage is a common thing on the building well. However, in a basement, it brings more side effects, in which the area tends to be wet and more humid.
To do the necessary actions for basement leaking, you must know the causes first. So, what are they?
A Strong Water Pressure
The most common cause of basement leakage is strong water pressure. It is a kind of pressure produced by water around the basement foundation.
When heavy raindrops occur continuously for several days continuously, the soil tends to be fragile. Then, it causes the water or hydrostatic pressure.
The humidity level increases and it presses the water to the wall from the outside. If this phenomenon occurs for a quite long time, sooner or later, the leakage is produced on the basement wall. The pressure of the water also seeps inside and causes the space of the basement to be moist and wet.
The Effect of the Basement Foundation
Around the foundation, the soil is commonly widened to ease the construction process. It is also impossible to make it narrower since it may damage the basement foundation. Unfortunately, this construction method also brings a lack of. It is that the space tends to load water.
The puddle of water is not only from the heavy rain. Drains and water pipes may flow the water to the space as the area is lower.
The soil swells for the water and it causes lateral or sideways pressure to the foundation. The process may take some years but yes, it damages the foundation and causes leakage.
Well or Water Reservoir that is not properly built
The pressure of water is not only because of natural phenomena like rain. Some errors in construction can also fasten the leakage process of the basement wall. One of them is when the basement location is not too far from a well or the construction of a water reservoir.
Leakage or seepage of water from those water sources may flow to the basement area. As has been mentioned above, the soil around the basement tends to be wider and it may load water from them. Sure, leakage cannot be prevented well.
Earthquakes and Other Natural Disasters
An unpredictable phenomenon that may cause leakage is earthquakes and other natural disasters. Not only do earthquakes damage buildings above the land but also under it.
So, check immediately if there is leakage or not on your basement wall just after an earthquake, no matter how small the scale is.
Small leakage may only cause seepage of water. But when it is big, it can be dangerous as the leakage can also damage the building above it. Sure, you should also fix the leakage as soon as possible.