What Do You Do If Your Basement Wall Is Leaking?

It isn’t always easy to determine whether or not your basement walls are leaking. Before you get in touch with an area professional, you’ll want to take a look around your home and identify any signs of damage that leave you concerned about the state of your home. 

Some of the most obvious signs that your basement walls might be leaking include: 

• Dampness on the walls 
• Water stains where there previously weren’t any 
• Pools of water on the floor 
• Higher levels of humidity throughout your entire home 
• Fogging windows 
• Higher electric bills 

If you notice any of the above, you can work with a contractor to determine where in your basement a leak may have originated. Leaks often, for example, stem from cracks, but not all cracks are leaks. You can look over your wall for signs of stair-step cracks, horizontal cracks, diagonal cracks, or vertical cracks. Then, with the type of crack in question identified, you can determine whether it has had enough time to transform into a leak. 

Contending with Leaks in Your Home 

Once you’ve identified the source of unwanted moisture inside of your home, then it’s up to you to determine how you want to go about repairing a said leak. Wall leaks in particular require you to: 

• Clean your walls. Leaks and cracks tend to allow unwanted debris into your home (they do not, however, invite mold spores indoors, as mold spores travel on air currents instead of in rainwater). Before you invest in any repairs, clean your walls of any dirt to make the repair site easier to work on. 
• Eliminate the moisture currently in your home. Before you go about repairing your leak, do what you can to remove the water and moisture from the immediate area. To do this, you can use a dehumidifier to pull moisture from the air while employing mops, buckets, or other tools to contend with any standing water. 
• Repair your insulation. You’ll also want to make a point to check on your insulation to determine whether or not it has suffered from water damage. Water damaged insulation can become a breeding ground for mold, so you’ll want to remove it and replace it soon after you discover and repair a leak. 

Reach out to a professional

Do not try and fill a leak in your wall on your own. It can be tempting to take caulk or other materials to the cracks that you can see. However, professionals can use specialized tools to determine whether the problem is with the leak itself or with unseen damage that your walls have already endured. If you try and fix a problem without first understanding how it came to be in your home, you risk making the repair process more complicated for yourself in the long run.