Serving Amsterdam
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Amsterdam, NY
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 creek runs under buildings. Is that a problem?
It is a limitation rather than a fault, and the limitation is that nobody can see the inside of it. A culverted channel has whatever capacity it was built with, less whatever has accumulated in it since, and both are unknown until something backs up. The city holds what records exist. For a property above or beside one, the practical question is where the water goes when the culvert is full.
Water comes through the cellar wall halfway up rather than at the floor.
On a hillside cellar that usually means the water is arriving sideways through the slope rather than rising from beneath. It travels down through the soil, meets the wall, and comes through at whatever joint is weakest. The floor may stay dry throughout. That points the remedy uphill, at intercepting the flow before it reaches the wall, rather than at anything done to the floor.
Is a stone cellar of this age worth waterproofing?
Sealing the inside face of a stone wall generally moves the water rather than stopping it, and on a hillside it can push it into the mortar instead. The approach that works is managing what arrives: interception above the house, roof water carried well clear, and a pit and pump for what still gets in. That gets a cellar to reliable dry storage, which is usually what is actually wanted.
This FAQ belongs to the Amsterdam page; it is repeated here.