Making sure your basement is waterproof is a vital part to a dry basement space. Most homes with basements are built with measures in place to help prevent water intrusion such as sump pumps, grading, gravel, foundation drain tiles, exterior sealants or waterproofing membranes to promote good drainage and prevent water infiltration, but at the end of the day, a basement is still just a hole in the ground and water always wants to go to the lowest point. Unless you live at the top of a hill or in a desert, your foundation fights off more water than you’d think during wet and rainy seasons.
Problems occur for a plethora of reasons, from drain tiles becoming clogged, to exterior sealants eroding away and cracking or shifting walls that can tear/rip holes in waterproofing membranes. Even with everything proper you can still live in a place with a high water table that can make your next wet basement just a power outage away.
It’s important to keep these factors in mind when you go to tackle a basement waterproofing project so you know what to focus your energy on to maximize your budget to accomplish your ultimate goal for the least out of pocket expense you can. Some people get off easy with simple solutions without breaking the bank and just seal cracks from the inside, or perhaps running downspouts further from the house or grading the soil away from the house, but if that’s not enough or you’re thinking of finishing your basement and want to make sure it stays dry, you should probably start thinking about putting a professional waterproofing/drainage system in place.
There’s lots of different products, methods and schools of thought when it comes to waterproofing systems. The 2 most common waterproofing systems are inside systems vs outside systems. While similar, not all inside systems are the same and not all outside systems are the same. Both systems have their pros and their cons and we’ll try to talk a little about each to help you decide what might work best for you.
For minor seepage and moisture issues we recommend a quality inside system. If you have lots of seepage and high water tables and a sump pump that never shuts off, outside systems may be a better bet. Inside systems help drain the water and give it a path to get out. Outside systems divert the water to decrease the load. Inside systems are great and we highly recommend them for controlling minor water/moisture occurrences to help prevent water/moisture damage and mold growth where as outside systems are usually better at helping control major water occurrences.
It’s also very important to remember that not all moisture on/in your basement walls comes from outside seepage! In winters here, because of our colder climate, it is quite common for warm air in the house to condense on cold basement walls! (Think of the moisture that beads up on a cold drink you pull out of a fridge) It can give you the appearance that it may be coming from outside, but really it’s coming from the air inside the house condensing on the cold block walls, day after day, year after year under the proper conditions. This is why we love inside systems, because a properly installed inside system can help prevent this as well by putting a well designed vapor barrier in place where an outside system doesn’t really help much!
I’ve seen inside waterproofing companies argue with outside waterproofing companies about what system is better, and the truth is, they’re equally as great at solving unique situations. Some outside waterproofing companies refuse to call an inside system a “waterproofing” system because you’re actually letting the water come through the wall to get into the newly designed drainage system, and I’ve also seen outside waterproofing companies charge customers 30 grand or more to completely waterproof the outside of the house when the issue was actually just an overlooked moisture and condensation problem, that only an inside system would of helped solve. Lots of waterproofers only understand water penetration and it’s what they put all their energy into trying to fix/prevent, while failing to understand the science of moisture (Psychometrics) and how it condenses and spreads and masks itself to look like a water problem.