Serving Burien
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Burien, WA
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
Water comes out of the bank rather than running over it.
There is a dense layer not far down across much of this ground. Rain gets through the looser material above it, cannot get through that, and then runs sideways along the top of it until it comes out on a slope face. A house built where that boundary meets daylight takes water against its high wall under pressure. Cutting the flow off above the building is the answer, and it has to be laid out for that particular slope.
The problems appear gradually rather than after a storm.
That is what continuous rain produces. Nothing gets a dry interval between November and March, so moisture accumulates in crawl spaces and framing week by week with no event to mark. By late winter the ground is at its wettest and the accumulated moisture is at its highest. That is also why the damage is usually discovered as a smell or a soft floor rather than as a dramatic night.
When is the right time to look under the house?
February, at the wettest point of the year. A crawl space inspected in August shows you its best condition, which tells you very little about the months that cause the damage. The same space in midwinter shows where water actually arrives, how far it spreads, and whether the ground barrier is intact. Timing an inspection for the wet months costs nothing extra.
These questions come from the Burien page.