Serving Natchez
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Natchez, MS
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 edge of the bluff is closer than it was.
Windblown silt has almost no resistance to water gathered into a single stream, which is exactly why it stands so steeply and also why it collapses. A downspout, the edge of a drive or a pump outlet sending flow over the crest opens a channel within a season or two and then deepens it every storm. Moving that discharge back and spreading it is what halts the process.
The house is two hundred years old. What is realistic?
Managing water rather than excluding it. Buildings of that period were made to breathe and to tolerate damp, and sealing them tends to trap moisture inside the fabric rather than keep it out. Roof water carried well clear, the ground pitched away from the walls, and ventilation left where it was designed to be are what this kind of structure responds to.
Why are the cold months the difficult ones?
Because of what the soil is already carrying when the rain lands. From December nothing is drawing water out and the profile stays full, so the heaviest monthly totals of the year arrive with nowhere to go. The identical rainfall in July meets ground that has been drying and vegetation working hard on it. Timing accounts for more here than intensity does.
These questions come from the Natchez page.