A difference of even a few inches of water can lead to basement flooding. Protect your property, your home and its contents!
Ensure proper drainage outside your home
- Keep accumulated water away from your home’s foundation walls and windows.
- Ensure eavestroughs (gutters) and downspouts are not blocked and are draining properly, away from your foundation walls.
- Connect extensions to your downspouts and ensure they are directed well away from foundation walls.
- Check your property for obstructions that could prevent water from draining away from your house.
- Ensure window wells are free from debris to ensure proper drainage.
- Clear debris from roadside catch basins (square sewer grates on the road) to help water enter the storm sewer.
- During the summer and fall, make sure there is proper grading around your home. Your yard should slope away from your house, not towards it.
Inside your home
- Keep floor drains clear of obstructions.
- Install a sump pump, if appropriate. (Note: a building permit will be required.) If you already have one make sure it is maintained and working properly, and that the drain pipe is routed well away from your foundation walls.
- Install a sewer backwater valve, if appropriate, to help reduce the risk of flooding due to sanitary sewer backup. If you already have a backwater valve, make sure it is maintained and working properly.
- If you are going to be away from home for more than a few days, have someone to check in regularly to ensure everything is safe.
Hold off on using your garden hose
- As temperatures rise, some homeowners are eager to wash away the debris left by winter by turning on their garden hose. Remember that there may already be an abundance of water on or around your property from all of the melted snow and spring rainfall. Adding water to saturated or partially frozen ground (by using your garden hose) may cause problems.
- Be patient with using your garden hose around the house. If you must do so, use it sparingly.
Remember:
Check with your insurance company about your coverage with regarding to flooding.