Serving Glens Falls
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Glens Falls, 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
Can a stone cellar wall be waterproofed?
Not in the way an owner usually means. A rubble or stone foundation has no continuous surface to seal, and coatings applied to the inside face tend to trap water in the wall and push it elsewhere. The workable approach is managing water before it reaches the wall, with exterior grading and roof drainage, and then handling what still comes through with an interior drain and a sump. Accepting that the wall will always be damp is part of the plan here.
Water is showing up at the bottom of a wall, but the leak is upstairs.
That is a balloon-framed house behaving normally, and it is one of the reasons this stock is deceptive. In balloon framing the stud cavities run uninterrupted from the sill to the roof, so water entering at a second-floor window or a roof junction falls the full height inside the wall and appears at the bottom. Nothing on the intervening floors will be wet. Tracing the failure means starting at the top of the cavity, not at the stain.
Is the spring thaw actually more of a risk than a summer storm?
For cellars here, often yes. Frost drives deep enough that a whole winter of precipitation is held in the ground and released over a couple of weeks. A cellar that shrugs off a July downpour, which drains away in hours, can run continuously through a March thaw. Owners frequently plan around summer rain and get caught by the season with no rainfall at all.
This FAQ belongs to the Glens Falls page; it is repeated here.