Serving Batavia
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Batavia, 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 ground out there is lower than it was.
Organic soil shrinks as it is drained and it keeps shrinking for as long as the drainage runs, so the surface of that ground drops measurably over decades. It is a slow regional process rather than something wrong with a property. What it means locally is that grades and outfalls set long ago may no longer fall the way they were designed to, which is worth rechecking rather than assuming.
Who is responsible for the ditch?
It may be the city, the county, an agricultural drainage authority or nobody in particular, and on this landscape the answer genuinely varies within a short distance. Establishing which applies to a particular length of ditch is a phone call on a dry afternoon and it saves a great deal of time later. Where the answer is nobody, it becomes a shared problem among the landowners along it.
With nothing to work with, what is actually available?
Very little in the way of conveying water and a fair amount in the way of keeping it off. A pipe has to end somewhere lower, and on a lake plain that place frequently is not on the property at all. What does work is roof water taken a long way from the building, the few inches of fall beside the wall used deliberately, and a pump chosen on the basis that nothing takes over if it stops.
These questions come from the Batavia page.