Serving Rochester
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Rochester, 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 river rose and dropped within a few hours.
A gorge does that. A channel cut into rock has no floodplain to spread into, so water goes up fast, moves through, and drops again rather than spreading and lingering. It means less warning and a shorter event. For properties near the gorge the practical consequence is that anything not already protected when the rain starts is unlikely to be moved in time.
March is our worst month and it is not raining.
That is the melt rather than a leak. A winter of lake-effect accumulation releases over a couple of weeks onto ground that is still frozen a foot or more down and cannot absorb any of it, so the water travels at or near the surface and collects against foundations. It is the most predictable wet event of the year here, and gutters and grading that seem irrelevant in July matter a great deal during that fortnight.
Is it worth putting a drain inside an old stone cellar?
Usually yes, once expectations are right. These walls have no drainage layer and were never meant to be watertight, so coatings applied inside tend to move the water rather than stop it. An interior perimeter drain to a sump gives what arrives somewhere to go and keeps the floor usable, which is a realistic outcome. Expecting a finished, dry room out of that space is what leads to spending a great deal for a poor result.
The same questions, in context, on the Rochester mold removal page.