Serving Olympia
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Olympia, 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
The streets downtown flood on a clear day at high tide.
At the head of an inlet the tide reaches its greatest range, and made ground built out over the old tideflats sits only a little above it. So a high tide with the right conditions puts water on the street with no rain involved at all. Following the predicted tide alongside the forecast is the useful habit, and the two together are what cause real trouble.
Ten inches in November and nothing dries until spring.
That is the season here rather than a fault, and it moves the timing of work rather than the need for it. Something found in November has five uninterrupted months to act on a building, with nothing drying meanwhile. Holding off until conditions improve means holding off until April, and the repair grows in the meantime.
The bluff behind the property keeps producing seeps.
Rain soaks through the loose upper material until it meets a dense glacial layer it cannot pass, then travels along the top of that boundary until the slope cuts through it. Where it emerges is decided by what is underground rather than by anything done to the yard above, which is why surface work rarely stops one.
These questions come from the Olympia page.