A series of winter storms dropping rain and wet, heavy snow across Minnesota could leave many homeowners scrambling to keep all of that moisture out of their basements.
Thankfully there are a number of minor maintenance items homeowners can do to help mitigate some of those risks that may arise this time of year.
Shane Goldsmith, a senior salesman with SafeBasements of Minnesota, says the calls start to come in droves this time of year from homeowners with water in their basements.
"The biggest issues we get calls for are water intrusion but some of those can be a bit self inflicted," Goldsmith said. "There's some different maintenance around the home to make sure your current system doesn't fail you."
One of the most common issues Goldsmith says is many sump pumps aren't set up for winter use. The discharge leading to the outside may be frozen which would prevent water from exiting the house.
"Another one is gutter downspouts which can get knocked off during the winter or they get frozen," he said. "That can lead to water going into basements by not getting the water an appropriate distance from the home."
Grading can also lead to a number of water-related issues inside homes.
"This is a problem we see a lot of because in today's world of the Internet and searching things on your own, people will look at the best ways to solve water intrusion and increasing grade is probably the number one answer you'll find online," Goldsmith said. "Increasing the grade around the home, we can sometime create a different issue which can be more detrimental to the framing of your home."
In many cases, Goldsmith adds installing a drain tile system that prevents ground and drain water from entering your home can help bring peace of mind, but that likely isn't the case if the issues is caused by grading.
"What has to happen is the grading needs to be lowered on the outside but then that will generally require drain tile on the inside. It's kind of a catch-twenty two in away. Drain tile systems will solve water come up from below and through the foundation, but they are not meant to solve water from coming over the top of the foundation."
If you spot unwanted water in your basement, Goldsmith says the best bet is to stay calm and do a few immediate things such as pulling up carpet, setting up fans, and using a dehumidifier.