Serving Berkeley
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Berkeley, CA
Basement seepage, failed sumps, and hydrostatic pressure against the foundation are extracted and dried, and the path from the ground is identified so the loss does not repeat. Groundwater and basement seepage are extracted and dried only after the path from the soil is identified — a wall, a slab, a drain, or a failed sump. Drying the interior without stopping that path returns the same water to the same floor.
Frequently asked questions
There is a creek running under this street somewhere.
The fault line at the foot of the hills has disturbed ground either side of it, and springs break out along that zone in ways the surface gives no sign of. That is why a wet patch on one lot can have nothing to do with its neighbor's, and why local memory here is a poorer guide than usual.
Flats or hills: which advice applies here?
Where the original ground ran decides how a pad behaves, and that line falls in a different place on every lot. One may be almost entirely on undisturbed ground while its neighbor is mostly on placed fill, which settles as it wets. The grading plan filed when the tract was built shows where it lies.
Nothing has fallen since March. What should be looked at?
The roof, in October rather than after the first storm. Eight dry months are ample for a seal to fail, a flashing to lift or a gutter to fill with debris unnoticed, and the first real rain then finds every one of them together. Half an hour up there before November prevents more damage here than most drainage work would.
The Berkeley overview carries this FAQ with the city research.