Serving Fulton
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Fulton, 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
How much does the dam actually change things?
It sets the level through town, which means the level is a managed quantity rather than a natural one. In high flow the gates pass what arrives and the pool behaves much as an open river would. What the structures give is predictability and warning, not a guarantee about how high the water gets.
The trouble starts in March rather than during storms.
That is the snowpack rather than any rainfall event. A winter of lake-effect accumulation holds a great deal of water, and when it releases over a few warm days it arrives at foundations as steady saturated ground rather than as a downpour. Frozen soil beneath makes it worse by preventing any of it soaking away.
Stone foundations were built to breathe.
They were built without any membrane, which is a different thing from being built to stay dry. Water moves through the joints as a matter of course, and that was tolerable when the space below was a cellar for storage. It becomes a problem the moment the same space is finished and used as a room.
These questions come from the Fulton page.