Serving Cambridge
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Cambridge, MA
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
Was this block built on made ground?
A good deal of the city was, and knowing which part matters more than the proportion does. Marsh was filled and built across as the place grew, so one street sits on original ground and the next on fill over soft material that settles and holds water. Historic mapping distinguishes them clearly and it accounts for most of the differences people notice from block to block.
Twenty minutes of rain did what an all-day soaking does not.
With the surface almost entirely sealed, essentially everything that falls becomes runoff at once and arrives at the inlets together. The system was sized against a lesser degree of paving than exists now and there is nowhere to hold the surplus meanwhile. Rate rather than total is what matters, which is why a brief violent cell does what a wet week does not.
The equipment is in the basement and it stopped everything.
Where the plant sits below ground, a flooded lower level takes out heat, hot water, lifts and pumps together, and in a building with laboratory or research equipment the loss goes well beyond the building services. Protection at the ramp, the areaway and the vents matters far more than anything upstairs, because the consequence is enormously out of proportion to the depth.
Read it with the local conditions on the Cambridge page.