What causes basements to flood?

In most cases, flooded basements occur when rainwater isn’t diverted away from the property. Gutters and downspouts are the most common tools that are used to divert water away from the property. 

When working correctly, a gutter system will strategically divert thousands of gallons of water away from a property. When the gutter system is not working correctly, those same thousands of gallons of water will seep into the ground and then eventually through your basement walls, and onto your basement floor. 

In addition to having a proper gutter system, the ground around the property should be built up enough so that the rainwater that isn’t captured by the gutter system, will be carried away from the property. It’s not possible to divert all of the rain water away from any property; the goal is to divert as much as possible to avoid costly repairs to your property in the future. 

I recently installed woodchips in an area behind two properties that covered about 1000 sqft; the wood chips were laid about 3-4 inches thick, and higher in some areas closer to the property. A couple of days after the woodchips were placed, we received 2 heavy rains and one massive downpour that left several areas in the city flooded. 

The rains washed away most of the woodchips because of the poor water diversion system at the property. So I asked Levi (YSU Environmental Science Student) and Mia (Director of Black House Farmz) to come take a look at a  property that is experiencing some major flooding issues. We’ve been brainstorming various water capture systems for our gardens so I was curious to know what kind of ideas they’d come up with. 

Check out the video to see what ideas they came up with! One way or another, we have to come up with a solution because not only is the water causing flooding in the basement, the rain is causing a lot of standing water that lasts for days after a heavy rain. The standing water is occurring in a high traffic area for tenants, and they’ve been complaining to me about how the hate walking through all of the mud because it messes up their shoes, and gets into their apartment units!