Water and Flooding
Water, Water Everywhere… Please Get out of my Basement
In Ottawa we are having a very damp summer, OK a downright wet summer really. It has been mostly an inconvenience for those who love the outdoors but the volume of rain falling is now becoming something worse.
For the farmers around Ottawa there is too much water and crops are being spoiled by the deluge we have seen in July. This could mean less local produce in our stores, which is disappointing and more likely more expensive for the consumer.
The other issue now is basement flooding. Some folks are in lower areas and are getting water coming into their homes through their foundations and that problem is causing a run on contractors who repair and waterproof foundations, and a run on the sale of submersible sump pumps as well. This kind of damage may or may not be covered by home insurance, depends on what insurance the homeowner has, so there are a lot of houses with a lot of damp carpet on the front lawn and damaged furniture in the trash (from water damage).
The other more fun issue that is arising is backing up sewer systems. This is where the drains in the basement of the house “backs up” and the sewer instead of taking water away from the house, does the opposite and brings the sewer contents into the basement. This damage is much worse and may not be covered under your insurance either (you need to check closely in your documentation). This kind of backup is very bad because not only are your basement contents ruined by the water, you have contamination of your basement by “sewer contents” (if you catch my drift). Your basement becomes a Bio-Hazard and you may not be allowed back in your house until it is cleaned up.
Evidently there is a “valve” device that you can put on your basement drain (the one in the floor of your foundation) that will attempt to stop this kind of “back up”, however, I can’t find any examples of this on line. If anyone cares to comment on the insurance side of things, or the preventative measure of this valve, please feel free to add your comments in.
Read your home insurance and weigh the value of getting coverage for home flooding.
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July 28th, 2009 at 10:26 AM
http://www.backwater-valves.com/Backwater-Valve-Diagram.asp
This is a good look at these types of valves, and their relation to the street sewer system elevations.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Just finished digging a large hole on the outside wall of my basement to fix a tiny crack in the wall … arghh! Fortunately, only a little water got in, not enough to trigger the water sensors connected to the alarm system, which was installed after an internal toilet drain pipe spilled smelly stuff all over the basement and caused a very expensive cleanup. The minor repairs aren’t worth claiming on insurance but insurance sure is necessary for the big ones!
July 28th, 2009 at 11:26 PM
Another good idea is to have a dugout in your basement which diverts water away from it, and to the outside of your house. It is a bit expensive, but it minimizes the damage caused by flooding to a large extent.
July 29th, 2009 at 6:43 PM
Regarding backflow prevention for the basement floor drain, I found them at Canadian Tire (after a house inspector made a recommendation to get one).
August 11th, 2009 at 8:28 AM
backflow prevention for the basement,inspector told me too