Serving Memphis
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Memphis, TN
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 street dried yesterday. Why are the joists still wet after an April front?
Loess does not dry on a street's schedule. Wind-blown silt takes April in and then weeps it at the crawl for days, which is why a meter can be up when the pavement looks fine. That is capillary water, not a new leak every morning. Extract any standing water, cover the soil, and run a closed dry-out. Another roof inspection after every front will not change this soil.
We are on the bluff, not in a bottom. Do the Wolf or Nonconnah still matter?
On a true bluff-top lot, as a weep, not as a flood. The rivers set the table in the low ground; the bluff's problem is the silt itself. If you are on the edge where loess fill meets bottom clay, April can follow that contact and wet a crawl that feels high. A contractor should ask where the lot sits on that contact, not only whether you can see a river.
The basement wall is damp for two weeks after every April storm. Is that a failed drain tile?
It can be, but in this silt the soil is often the cause. Loess holds April rain and releases it slowly, so a wall weeps long after a working tile has taken the free water. A ponding floor points at the tile or the Wolf and Nonconnah table. A damp wall alone may need only a dry-out and better roof discharge. Meter before you replace a drain you have not seen fail.
These questions come from the Memphis page.