Hurricane season is upon us, and it’s time protect your basement. To say that water is capable of doing major damage to your basement is an understatement. Add to that the force of wind and potentially heavier than usual rainfall, and the problems you could be facing with your basement repairs could be rather costly. To help you to prepare your house for the worse, you should consider putting together a checklist of things that need to be taken care of sooner than later. To help you get started, the following is a few items that might need to appear on your basement checklist.

A Solid Foundation

The key to protecting your basement, whether it is hurricane season or days of endless rain, is a solid foundation. According to This Old House, many of the older methods of laying a foundation renders a situation where you have cracks and leaks. Properly steel reinforced foundation walls and footers is an essential key to a long lasting solid foundation. Other things to consider are the soil conditions around the foundation and the water table in the area where your basement rests. Failure to address these concerns when initially building a home means that you are going to have to address the consequences of a poorly designed and constructed foundation later. If your home was not built with these considerations in mind, it may be necessary to check your basement for cracks, leaks and the formation of mold.

Updating Your Home With a French Drainage System

It is never a good sign when standing water is accumulating in puddles around the foundation of your home. To help prevent this water from causing significant damage to your home’s foundation, it might be ideal to install a French drainage system. The idea behind a French drainage system is that it utilizes the aid of hollow subsurface pipes, covered with gravel, to direct water away from the foundation of your home. This essentially prevents standing water from maintaining prolonged contact with your home’s foundation.

Removing Carpet From Your Basement

Although it may have seemed like a good idea initially, carpet in a basement that leaks is a mold and mildew hazard for the whole family. If your basement has ever leaked or flooded in the past, it is best to get rid of the carpet in your basement and rethink your flooring options (tile is a great choice). Chances are, if your basement is prone to leaking, then a hurricane is only going to cause more flooding and contribute even more water damage to the carpet in the basement.

Check Floor Drains

Since hurricanes will generally dump more water than normal around your home, this will sometimes cause your basement drainage system to back up more than usual. Making certain your basement drains are draining properly is key to efficient water evacuation. In situations where drainage is not adequate, installing a sump pump may prove to be one of the best ways to keep water damage to the interior of your basement to a minimum and increase the speed at which water is drained from subsurface areas of your home. If your sump pump is rooted to municipal sewage-ways, you may need to check that running your pump’s drainage path through this method is compliant with local statutes. In some jurisdictions, due to flood water removal overwhelming the local sewage systems, this method has been made illegal; consequently, redirecting the drainage path may be necessary to become compliant with local laws in your area.