Forgive me, I’ve just got to bitch a bit.

Fucking damnit, the rain is coming down so hard the gutters are not helping. Thinking I had my basement issues fixed, I put my carpet back down yesterday; to include the furniture.

This morning I woke up to pouring rain and wet carpet. Very wet carpet. I reversed everything I did last night and dried the floor as best I could; water was still steadily streaming in. Walking outside I found a literal hole filled with water; pushed up against the house.

I dug trenches to divert the water and put down about 200 pounds of sand (which is not as much as you might think).

Now I sit again with a semi-dry basement, just trying to wait out the rain. Looking at the gutters again I can see there is a stoppage about half-way down the garage; that is the reason water is not flowing from it. Gutters are too high off the ground for me to do anything with right now.

So now I just wait…it is a feeling of helplessness, and incredibly frustrating situation.

Significant landscaping is in my future.

Yep rainy season cranked up early here, the gutter over the garages had water flowing over the side, since the rain came at the same time all the Oaks are dropping leaves and pollen, had to clean it out.

Going for a new wider gutter with the screen on top for that area.

Early spring can be a tough time with runoff, especially when the ground is thawed by the house, frozen beyond.

We have rather good drainage, still try to keep an eye on things. I ran an underground chute from a main downspout years ago, 25’+ feet of run, down the sloped hill.

Most trees are back a bit, but leaves, pine needles, even owl poop end up in the gutter. When on the roof I clean out gutters, screen over the downspout during bird nesting season. I’m normally up to clean the chimney.

The basement here is mostly ‘unfinished’ old carpet sections in some areas. It’s easier to clean should we have moisture.

Over the years we’ve had two water events, modest. The 1st was when an outflow pipe disconnected from a sump pump, discharged into basement until caught. That one was the high end of modest cleanup, caught near midnight.

The second was when the son totally overloaded the washer. Doing so blocked inlet water allowing it to flow outside the wash tub in the washer. The water amount wasn’t terrible, but right below was my reloading area then a few rifles.

I feel for you. That is one of the biggest things I do not miss about our old house. Landscaping, gutter work and sump pump did help.
I wish you luck.

Our sump well used to run like crazy during sustained heavy rain. Like every five minutes or less.

Then I did a little be of re-grading around the house and we had gutters put in--the downspouts of which kick out 3-4 feet.

Now, if it rains hard enough, long enough, we may get a dribble into the sump well.

There’s one universal truth about basements and cellars: It’s not IF you’ll get water in them but WHEN. I’ve fought with the cellar at our house since we moved in and even though I’ve improved the situation, I’ll never win.

Ronin1069,

Sorry to hear this. I know the feeling. Maybe my experience will be of some help.

With BRAC closing the naval shipyard I worked at, the Zoomies picked me up on a lateral. Relocated and bought a nice tri-level house here in South Dakota in '94 (built in '83; still in it). Extremely unusually heavy big Spring rain in '95 flooded the lower level with 1½" (finished basement 40% /90% in the ground front/rear). Turns out the walls are sealed save the chimney that services both the finished basement and main floor. That's where the water seeped in. Solution was to ensure much longer downspout extensions were installed that moved rainwater a significant distance from that area next to the chimney eliminating pooling and oversoaking. The critical one near the chimney is almost as tall as the main floor of the house when folded up for lawn mowing. Haven't had any issues since.

I had to dig a french drain around 2 sides of the house. Deep trench with perforated pipe backfilled with some gravel and then put walking path stones on top of trench...

Did that and put some sealant paint on the inside of my cinderblock basement walls and that did the trick (for the last 10-12 years anyway...knock on wood).

Since I was installing pipe anyway, I went ahead and connected any close by downspouts to this drain pipe. I had a tiny tiller and used that to help trench the rocky clay we live on.

Oh - also put some metal (aluminum I believe) sheeting against the exterior wall of the trench to keep ivy and other roots from growing into the trench and pipe from the side...

Live in a 1600FT ranch in a very low area of town. Always had water issues. About 12 years ago the city did a major upgrade on our streets. New sidewalks, widened the street, new lighting, and enlarged the water/sewer lines. When I had my house roof replaced I had wider gutters installed with leaf guards, also wider downspouts. Also had every GD tree withing 50 feet of the house removed. No more moldy roofing or clogged gutters. Sump pump still works when it's super rainy, but never more than a trickle of water in our unfinished basement. Next project may be a battery back up on the sump pump.

Sorry to hear this, what a pain in the ass. I'd suggest first making sure gutters are cleaned regularly and second installing a pipe underground to route the water away from the house. I did the later a few years ago and added a dry well and an additional clean out/drain halfway through the piping in a spot that collected water in heavy rains. No more water near my house and a less soggy backyard in general.





I made the dry well from old 5 gallon water bottles with holes drilled it them, filled the hole with gravel and topped it with rocks that I had dug up over the years.

I dug a shallow trench from my house to my next door neighbor's yard.

My drainage problems went away.

Yeah, I’ve seen neighbors fussing when the other reroutes drainage towards them.

At least for now, things are holding steady. This thread is somewhat therapeutic; I know that I am not alone.