Serving Arvada
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Arvada, CO
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
Eighteen inches a year is a dry climate.
It is, and the risk here has never been about the annual total. A stalled summer storm against the rising ground can deliver a very large share of a year in a few hours, and this stretch of the Front Range has recorded exactly that. Semi-arid ground also sheds the first rainfall almost completely, so nearly all of it becomes runoff.
The creek out of the foothills is small.
Its catchment is short and steep, which is a different matter from being small. Rain on the slopes above reaches the channel within minutes with very little absorbed on the way, so it goes from nothing to a substantial flow quickly. Size at the crossing is not the useful measure.
The ground is hard and dry most of the year.
Which is part of the mechanism rather than protection from it. Soil that has been baking for months takes water poorly at first, so the opening period of a storm runs off a surface behaving more like pavement than earth. Infiltration improves once it is wet, usually after the peak has passed.
The Arvada overview carries this FAQ with the city research.