Everyone likes saving a buck when possible and most homeowners have a DIY instinct when it comes to home repairs. So we have a few tips today for keeping your basement dry.
The first tip is to take care of your gutters and downspouts. By that we mean make sure your gutters are clean, that there are no trees growing out of them, and that downspouts are clear. Also, you want to be sure they are far enough away from the house that the water runs away from your house and not toward it. Oftentimes, you have to put a gutter extension on them to be sure.
The second tip is inside the basement. You want to get rid of excess humidity. There are three areas to work on, very inexpensively, to take care of that. Be sure your dryer vent is hooked up and sealed. Also, by code you want to be sure that the pipe is solid, not plastic or foil. You want to make sure it is aluminum and that all the sections are sealed with aluminum tape. Drying clothes removed about 1 1/2 gallons of water, so if that pipe is not sealed, that water is entering the basement.
If you have a bathroom in the basement, you want to be sure that the bathroom is vented outside. You also want to be sure that the vent is insulated. If you have warm air going through the pipe and cold air outside, you have condensation. Speaking of pipes, you want to be sure your cold water pipes are insulated too.
The last tip would be to keep you cold, below-grade walls insulated. Styrofoam insulation boards work well for this.
For more information on basement waterproofing, contact A1 Foundation Crack Repair.