Before You Finish Your Basement...

Install An Effective Drainage System

If your basement floods after it's been finished, the flooding groundwater will damage drywall, fiberglass insulation, and many other wall finishing products.

To repair a finished basement that's flooded, you will need to cut away the damaged wall, fiberglass, and studs so that a drainage system can be installed. After the drainage system has been installed, we have a drywall repair system available to install, or you can opt to bring a carpenter in afterwards.

However, the better choice is to install that drainage system before the basement is finished. Many homeowners choose this option as a precaution even if their basement has never flooded before.

Install A Complete Sump Pump System

Installing a sump pump system ensures that you can discharge large volumes of water from your home in the case of heavy rains of a plumbing failure. If you've installed a drainage system, you should definitely install a sump system as well.

The best sump pumps are ready for anything -- including power outages and sump pump failure. This means that your system should include both a battery backup sump pump and a secondary sump system that can kick on if your primary pump fails.

The systems we install at American Waterworks also include an alarm system that sounds off in the unlikely event of a pump failure -- so you can respond right away.

Guard Against Frozen Discharge Lines

If you have a sump pump system, it will generally discharge water outside of your home, sending it downhill so it does not pool around your foundation.

One of the most common causes of sump pump failure occurs when these discharge lines become clogged with ice or debris.

Once the water has no way out of the home, the sump system backs up, and a flood occurs in your finished basement.

To protect against this issue, your drainage system should include an open discharge line extension such as our IceGuard™ System, which gives water a secondary way out of your home.

Seal The Basement Walls

Because concrete basement walls are porous, they sponge moisture from the earth outside. This moisture enters your basement in the form of water vapor. This moisture will then build up behind walls, leading to mold, mildew, and moisture issues.

Address this issue by covering your basement walls with a vapor barrier system, such as our ThermalDry® Radiant Heat and Vapor Barrier System.

This product creates a barrier for water vapor, protecting your finishing products and directing any water into your perimeter drain. The added radiant heat barrier reflects heat back, making your finished space more comfortable and energy efficient.

Upgrade Those Basement Windows

Your basement windows are vital to the beauty and appeal of a finished basement. If egress windows dingy, rusty, and providing a front-row view of a rusted window well, then they're not doing their job.

We recommend upgrading your basement windows to a model with energy-efficient glass and a vinyl frame.

While you're at it, protect the windows from rain, snow, and cold winter winds by installing covered basement window wells at each window location.

Along with keeping back the cold, the cover will also hold back dirt, leaves, and other debris that would otherwise fill the window well, grow weeds and look ugly.

Install A Ducted Dehumidifier System

Keeping your basement dry is key to creating a healthier, more comfortable space in your home. Eliminating humidity will keep mold, mildew and rot under control, and can even lower heating and cooling costs.

A good dehumidifier should run without the owner even knowing it's working. The best ones are self-draining, and can be installed with ductwork. That way, they can dry air in your living space while being stored in a closet or utility area.

Perform Basic Exterior Maintenance

For a typical home, a 1" rainfall adds up to about 500 gallons of water on your roof. Unless your exterior is properly designed to handle this water volume, this can mean a lot of water in the soils around your basement.

Extending your downspouts and keeping your gutters clean of leaves and debris is an important part of properly maintaining your home (and will help prevent damaging ice dams in the winter). Your basement window wells should also be carefully cleaned of leaves, debris, and weeds about twice a year.

To make sure that water is running away from your home, it's also vital to check the grading. If necessary, regrade this soil so it's pitched away from the foundation.

Install Plumbing Leak Safeguards

If you've invested a lot of time and money to protect your basement from flooding from the outside, it's certainly worth it to spend a little on protecting your basement from plumbing leaks from the inside.

Water heaters can begin to leak significantly as they age. If you already have a perimeter drain system installed, it's a simple thing to install a ring around the water heater that connects to that drainage system.