Serving Davenport
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Davenport, IA
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
The river dropped. Why is the basement still wet?
The silt has not released the water. Alluvial ground along the lock pool holds moisture against basement walls for weeks after stage falls, so the gauge and the cellar run on different clocks. Combined laterals on the flats can also keep contributing through a floor drain after the bank is dry. Waiting on the river to look low is not a drying plan on this fill.
Water came up the floor drain, not under the wall. What is that?
That is the combined sewer coming back. On the flats a slow June storm fills pipes that still carry stormwater and sewage together, and the surcharge finds the lowest opening, which is the floor drain. The river can stay inside its banks the whole time. Water that arrives that way has crossed the street system and is treated as contaminated; porous material it touched is a removal job, not a fan job.
Downtown sits next to the lock. Why does a managed pool still wet a cellar?
Because a managed pool is still a high water table. Lock and Dam 15 holds stage against the flats so the silt stays charged, and a 1960s wall poured in that ground was never detailed to exclude it. A calm lock deck is not a dry wall on this silt. The pool can look ordinary from the levee while hydrostatic pressure is already at the footer.
These questions come from the Davenport page.