Serving Great Falls
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Great Falls, MT
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
We had water in January after a warm spell.
That is a chinook melt, and it catches people who expect problems only in spring. A sharp midwinter warming releases snow onto ground that is still frozen hard, so none of it soaks in and all of it travels at the surface into whatever it meets. It can happen several times in a winter. The same measures that matter in April matter in January here: gutters, grading, and where the snow was piled.
The ground beside the house has sunk into a channel.
That is settled backfill and it is among the most common causes of basement water on the northern plains. Material placed during construction consolidates over years, and in compact soil it settles into a trough that slopes back toward the wall instead of away. Meltwater then runs straight to the footing. Topping up and regrading the perimeter is inexpensive and it resolves more of this than any interior work.
The shop out back has a tap and no heating.
Empty the line for the winter and stop worrying about it. Trying to keep an outbuilding above freezing on the northern plains is expensive and it tends to fail during precisely the cold snap that would have split the pipe anyway, which is the worst of both. A drained line cannot burst. If the building has to stay in service, insulate the runs properly, give it a heat source you trust, and fit an alarm that tells you when the temperature drops rather than when the water arrives.
These questions come from the Great Falls page.