Serving Everett
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Everett, 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
Which half of the city is this address in?
It is the first question worth answering, because the two behave nothing alike. On the bluff the water arrives sideways out of the slope and the work is interception above the building. On the flats it arrives from beneath, held up by the river and the tide, and the work is a sealed crawl with a pump under it. Applying the bluff remedy on the flats, or the reverse, is the most common wasted expense here.
Nothing dries out between October and April.
That is the season rather than a fault, and it changes the arithmetic on repairs. A small leak has five months to work rather than five days, and material that would shed a summer soaking on its own never gets the chance. The practical consequence is that anything found in November is worth dealing with in November: waiting for better weather means waiting until April, by which time the damage is done.
The crawl on the flats is wet and the yard is not.
On the delta the water arrives from below rather than across. The level under that ground is held up by the river and by the tide behind it, so it rises into the crawl while the surface above stays perfectly dry. Gutters and grading do nothing about that. A sealed ground barrier with a pit and a pump beneath it is the arrangement that works down there.
This FAQ belongs to the Everett page; it is repeated here.