It’s always a good idea to flood-proof your home for winter, especially near the season’s end when melting snow can lead to flooding. Here are some tips from A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning for keeping your house safe and dry.
Flood-Proof Your Basement
As everyone knows, the basement is the most flood-prone area in a house. There are a few ways you can prevent your basement from taking on water in late winter/early spring. Inside your basement, check the walls and windows for leaks and cracks, and have them professionally sealed. Outside your home, attach extensions to your downspouts to avoid having large amounts of water seeping into your basement/foundation. Also, on the next unseasonably warm day, it’s a good idea to have your gutters cleaned – especially if you didn’t get around to it in the fall. Clogged gutters that overflow will cause water to run down the sides of your home and into the basement. Clean gutters will funnel the water directly to your downspouts.
Integrate Non-Return Valves
This step necessitates some time and money, but the return will be worth it. When you fit all of your drains and water pipes with non-return valves, you prevent excess flood water from exiting your area’s sewer system and flowing back into your ground-floor toilets, sinks, and showers. The cost/time involved in attaching non-return valve is far less than the expense associated with cleaning up your home if dirty flood water finds its way in.
Install a Sump Pump
Most homes with a basement have a sump pump, but if yours doesn’t then we recommend installing one right away. Sump pumps, which are either gas-powered or electric, kick into action when excess water is detected, pumping out any water that tries to enter your basement and keeping it dry and undamaged. Gas-powered sump pumps require fueling, and can be loud, whereas electric pumps are quieter and need no fuel. However, electric pumps can be a hazardous should water enter your basement. Also, it’s wise to purchase a backup generator to power the pump if your home’s power goes out during a flood.
Optimize Your Home’s Exterior Drainage
This tip is best employed in the fall, when landscaping and gardens are finished blooming and before the ground freezes. There are two key factors in optimizing your home’s exterior drainage and helping prevent a flooded basement. One is that you always want to your backyard and landscaped areas to slope away from the home, however slightly, so that water naturally moves in this direction. The second way that you can optimize exterior drainage is by mixing organic matter (peat moss or compost) and sand in with the soil around your landscaping. The organic material should be wet when you begin mixing, and avoid using only sand, as this will worsen the area’s drainage. Work these three materials together until what you have is a loose, non-compacted mixture.
For more information and to work with a team that excels at carpet repair and carpet cleaning services near Littleton, contact A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning today.
