It’s no April Fool’s joke to have water in your basement.  I have experienced it first hand as a homeowner and have witnessed the damaged caused by water when the proper measures are not taken.  I have taken an excerpt from the CMHC web site regarding how to prevent water entering your home where you don’t want it.

 

Why Do Basements Flood?

Water can enter your basement for a number of reasons. Water in your basement is most likely to occur during periods of heavy rainfall, or when snow is melting rapidly during a spring thaw. In these cases, your basement can be wet because of:
  • a leak or crack in your home’s basement walls
  • poor lot drainage
  • failure of the weeping tiles (foundation drains)
  • overflowing eavestroughs or leaking/plugged downspouts
Basement flooding may also occur because of:
  • a blocked connection between your home and the main sewer in the street
  • a back-up of wastewater in the sewer system (or a combination of wastewater and rainwater from the sanitary or combined sewer system)
  • failure of a sump pump (in some areas) used to pump weeping tile water

Practical Measures to Avoid Basement Flooding

Basement flooding problems are best diagnosed by working your way down from the eavestroughs and downspouts, to the lot and foundation drainage, and then to the plumbing system — both inside your home and beyond its connection to the municipal sewer system.  This article link expands on all the topics below. Eavestroughs and Downspouts: Water pours off your eavestroughs into downspouts. If the downspouts are dumping the water right beside your foundation, it drains directly to the weeping tile and can easily overload your home’s drainage. Lot Grading: If the land around your home slopes in toward the foundation, rainwater heads right for the weeping tile around the basement and can overload your foundation drainage system. Floodproofing Devices: If your home drainage system or the neighbourhood’s drainage system overloads, you may still be able to prevent rain water and sewage from backing up into your basement by installing one or more floodproofing devices, such as sump pumps or back flow valves. Sump Pit Drainage System: A sump pit drainage system includes a sump pit, a sump pump and a discharge pipe. (See diagram above) For more information on connecting a Sump Pump and the proper maintenance of a disc hard system click here.