Five Things Basements Do
Water after heavy rain
Frequently surface water, and frequently free to fix. Where on the wall it appears tells you whether this is a gutter problem or a drainage one.
Floods every spring
Seasonal groundwater rather than a failed wall. Predictable, which means preventable — and summer is when to deal with it.
A crack, and no idea if it matters
Direction tells you most of it. Three patterns are routine; one warrants a proper look.
Musty smell, no visible water
Humidity rather than a leak. On Lakes Region property the source is usually a dirt floor you never visit.
The sump runs constantly
Water is arriving constantly — or the pump is recycling its own discharge, which is commoner than people expect.
Not sure which?
Three questions — where, when, and what the foundation is — and the diagnostic narrows it.
Three Free Checks
Go outside during the next heavy rain
Ten minutes in the wet tells you more than an hour staring at the wall from inside. Watch where roof water actually goes and whether the ground sheds it away from the house or toward it.
Find where your downspouts end
If any of them discharge within a few feet of the foundation, extend them. It is the single most effective free thing available and it resolves a genuinely large share of wet basements.
Note exactly where and when
Down a wall or at the floor joint? Every rain or only in March? Those two answers do most of the diagnostic work, and they are the first two things we will ask.