During the initial construction phase of your Toronto home if the contractor or builder applied exterior waterproofing on your basement then this should be all the waterproofing you will need. The process is called “tanking” or bonding a substance to the outside of your basement wall so that water can be prevented from seeping inside.

Some builders use the “dual-layer” system. This consists of a primary waterproofing system protected by a secondary drainage layer. The secondary layer protects the primary waterproofing system from damage during backfilling. It also helps lessen the stress on the primary system. However, this waterproofing is often ignored by the builders so you end up having a damp or wet basement.

Assuming that you have checked your basement to find out what causes the flooding. And found out that the cause of having a wet basement is through cracks and seepages. Then you could apply internal waterproofing, but keep in mind that concrete is porous therefore your waterproofing will not last as long as you thought it would. So it would be wise to address the real cause of the problem- and its outside.

There are many components in your external waterproofing system that plays a part in keeping water out of your home. The gutter, downspout, the slope but the most important is the exterior footer drain tiles. Footer drains are perforated plastic pipes that surround the foundation of your basement and used to direct excess water away from your home to a suitable drainage system.

In some cases especially in older homes the footer drains are made up of clay. Check if these clay pipes are clogged, blocked or worst broken. If so rather than repairing it the best solution is to replace it with plastic pipes.

Proper drainage of surface water is the primary factor in preventing wet basements. Surface water drainage should be directed from all sides of the house and off the property. Roof water should be directed to a downspout and away from the foundation walls to a drainage system, so designed to prevent backflow and water accumulating in a spot or ponding. Make sure that downspout shoes and splash blocks are installed and directed away from the foundation walls.

The foundation walls itself is an important element of external waterproofing and the sealant used to prevent water from seeping through your walls. A kind of tar mixture is commonly used as sealant though there are more expensive options that can be used.

Doing external or outside basement waterproofing repairs, it is almost impossible to do it without performing some kind of excavation or digging, whether by with expensive machines or doing it manually, so hiring a professional basement waterproofing Toronto company would be wise. If your home doesn’t have a clean out installed, it would be impossible to access the footer drains to unclog or replace it without excavating. Whenever excavations are to be performed in order to remedy your wet basement problems, expect that you will be spending more. That is why internal basement waterproofing are much more affordable than external basement waterproofing.