Serving Huntington
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Huntington, WV
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 wall is there. Why did the hollow flood?
Because the water came from the land side rather than the river. A hollow drains a steep catchment of its own onto a valley floor a few dozen feet wide, and an intense cell over the hills fills it within the hour, entirely independently of what the Ohio is doing. The wall was built for a different problem. In practice the hollows flood more often than the riverfront does.
It came up through the cellar drain while the river was high.
With the wall closed, the town's own drainage has to be lifted over it, and while that is happening the pipes inside are full. The lowest connected opening in a house relieves that pressure, and in a cellar of this age that is the floor drain. It is not river water and no amount of exterior work touches it. A valve on that line is the measure that does.
Is a cellar in a hollow worth finishing?
Rarely, and the reason is the catchment rather than the building. On a narrow valley floor the water arrives fast, has a short route in, and leaves as quickly, which is a poor combination for anything absorbent. As dry storage with the plant raised it works perfectly well. The money that would go into finishing it is usually better spent on the culvert and the grading above the house.
These questions come from the Huntington page.