Why Interior Waterproofing is Better
After a home is built it is often hard to determine when and how problems with its construction will arise. There are many factors that should be considered. However, when it comes to water seepage into a basement, there are a few scientific constants you can count on.
Water in the ground, below and beside the basement will rise, expand, and contract under certain circumstances. If there is a lot of rain, the water level in the ground will rise and find its way into the block walls of a basement. Similarly, when the temperature of an area rises it thaws the water in the ground around the basement. This contracts the ground and after enough expanding and contracting it can make it very easy for water to seep through.
Once you realize water is getting into your basement walls it becomes crunch time to find solutions. There are two methodologies to waterproofing in the industry: interior and exterior. Interior waterproofing is by far the most obvious choice for existing homes. It is typically easy to conceal and easy to maintain. Exterior waterproofing proves to be more costly and if a system fails it is very difficult to know about the failure and maintain it.
Interior waterproofing does not have to fool with excavating around an entire home. Instead, a trench is dug around the perimeter of the basement so that the drainage system can be placed under the footer. This allows the system to catch the water before it gets into the interior portion of the wall. It is then sealed and the trench is re-poured so that you can't even tell it's there. All the gathered water then flows into a sump pump and gets pumped out through a French drain.
Exterior waterproofing certainly has it's place: it is a tool used by home builders for the betterment of their buildings; however homeowners should be weary. Interior waterproofing is a much more permanent and maintainable solution to water seepage.
Here at Mid-State Basement Systems, we are big fans of interior drainage systems. We have access to patented products and processes designed specifically to waterproof basements. We design our systems with products like WaterGuard, TripleSafe sump pumps, and SaniDry Sedona dehumidifiers which all have been tried, tested, and proven over the years. So much so that we offer the best warranties.
Some would suggest that interior waterproofing serves no purpose, and that exterior waterproofing has only upsides. That is, of course, not true. Interior waterproofing has challenges: it requires occasional maintenance and cannot always fit in the best locations. But when it comes down to a permanent solution that puts your home's health first, interior waterproofing is best way to keep water from getting into your basement.
At Mid-State Basement Systems we encourage our customers to have questions and know about all their options, but most importantly we believe that your basement should be dry.