If the basement of your home flooded soon after your neighbors had made changes to their property, you may be wondering what happened and whether or not you should expect to have ongoing problems with flooding in the future. After all, a flooded basement can be a challenge to deal with, but if the basement floods constantly, the challenge becomes a nightmare. Here's what you need to know.
Understand that water flows where there's the least resistance
You've heard this before, and this also includes ground water. If your neighbor made changes to their property, those changes could have affected the ground water. And if the path of least resistance for that ground water goes directly towards your basement, your basement will see a deluge of ground water. Here are several things that can cause this to happen.
These types of changes to someone's property can cause changes to the groundwater of all neighboring properties. Therefore, most municipalities require property owners to obtain permits before changes are made.
Get an assessment by storm water management personnel
Part of the permitting process is for the local storm water management authority to conduct a study to determine whether or not the proposed changes would affect neighboring property and cause flooding. If they determine that flooding could result from the changes, they will either decline the permit application or they will require additional changes to be made to the property to prevent flooding in the neighborhood.
Whether this type of process is required in your area or not, you obviously have a problem that needs to be dealt with. Ask the storm water management personnel to inspect your property before you remove water from your basement. They will be able to assess the situation and determine whether or not the problem for you may be ongoing and, if so, what can be done to prevent flooding in your basement in the future.
Deal with the flooding in your basement
Of course, you'll want to have the flood waters removed as quickly as possible from the basement. If the office personnel will not be able to inspect your property immediately, photography and videography will have to suffice instead so you can remove the flood waters from the basement as quickly as possible. Hire water damage restoration services to safely remove the water and moisture from the basement. To prevent ongoing problems in the future, consider installing a French drain around the perimeter of your home and having the concrete of your foundation sealed with waterproofing.
Share15 June 2017
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