It is not impossible even for brand new homes to experience basement flooding. There are a number of reasons that your basement can get flooded: busted pipes, cracks in the foundation of the home, problems with the sewage system, and other water problems. Although it is not impossible for people to experience basement flooding, there are some simple things that you can do to prevent it.
One of the main reasons for a flooded basement is the dreaded sewage back up. In some cities, the sanitary water and the rain water all go through the same sewage pipes. A problem in the design of the sewage system or too much flood water going through the sewage lines could cause water to back up into a drain in the home.
Here are some guidelines that experts have advised time and again which may prevent a flooded basement:
To prevent the water from the sewage system from flooding your basement, you can install a drain plug. This drain plug covers the drain to prevent the water from the sewage from rising up and creating a flooded basement in your home. But if there is too much water pressure from the sewage, the plug is designed to open again to prevent the drain and the floor from cracking.
Another thing you can install on your drain to prevent sewage back up is a standpipe. A standpipe is a wide pipe that is installed on the floor drain in the basement. When the sewage water rises from the drain, the water will rise into the standpipe instead of seeping into your basement carpet of floorboards right away.
A more effective but also a more expensive solution to prevent a flooded basement is to install a sewer check valve. The check valve will prevent the water from rising back up into your drain. There are manual check valves but there are also automatic sewage check valves. The check valve needs to be installed by a professional so you can expect to pay more for this solution.
Another thing that you can also do to help avoid a flooded basement is to have an overhead sewer implemented in your home. An overhead sewer is a tank that collects water from the drains and then pumps the water into the city's main sewage system. This prevents sewage back-up because the tank is overhead. This is the ideal set-up for finished basements with bathrooms. This set-up is expensive because it requires an ejector pump to dispose sanitary water from the tank to the sewage system.
You should also make sure that the downspout from your roof's gutter is not connected to the underground drain pipe. To prevent flooding, the best thing you can do is to direct the downspout away from the home so that rain water will also be directed away from the home. This can be done by installing an elbow pipe at the end of the downspout before it reaches the ground and adding an extension pipe. Make sure you also do not direct the extension pipe to your neighbor's home or to any direction where it may cause harm to others. You should also make sure that downspouts and gutters are not clogged.
Make sure that all floors and walls in the basement are properly sealed from both the inside and the outside to prevent water seepage. Water seepage can result in a flooded basement when the areas surrounding the house are saturated with water.
