Serving Pawtucket
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Pawtucket, RI
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
Why is March the wettest month rather than a summer one?
The rainfall total is fairly even across the year, but March adds snowmelt to it and subtracts the ground's ability to take any. Soil is still frozen at depth, so meltwater and rain both run off almost entirely. The combination rather than the rainfall alone is what puts March at the top.
The lots here are tiny and the houses nearly touch.
Which leaves very little permeable ground anywhere in the older neighborhoods. Roofs, drives and yards that have been paved over all shed to the street, so the drainage takes close to everything that falls. Density built for mill workers a century ago produces a runoff response nobody designed for.
Sewage backs up into the cellar during heavy rain.
That points at the combined system in the older streets, where storm and sanitary flow share one pipe. In a heavy storm the rainfall vastly outweighs the sanitary flow and the pipe surcharges, and the lowest connection on the street takes the surplus. It is a capacity problem in the street rather than a fault inside the building.
This FAQ belongs to the Pawtucket page; it is repeated here.