Anyone owning a home or any other type of building with floors below the ground level, has probably had to contend with some kind of water or moisture in those lower levels. Virtually any structure built beneath the ground level must do something in order to keep ground water out. The products, techniques, and strategies to cope with everything from transient moisture to free-standing or flowing water can be collectively referred to as basement waterproofing. But waterproofing your basement can be particularly difficult if you don't understand the problem. In this article we'll explain what causes basements to be damp and why almost all basements require some degree of waterproofing in order to be comfortably dry.
All soil will contain some measure of moisture, even in arid climates. The amount of moisture content (or water) in a particular spot will fluctuate at any given time, but as time goes on, ground moisture will invariably be present to a certain degree. Due to the fact a basement is constructed below the surface level and therefore is in contact with the soil around it, the moisture within this encircling soil will be propelled, as a result of natural forces, to penetrate that basement. Experts will often make use of the term hydrostatic pressure to explain this phenomenon. Within this particular context, hydrostatic pressure alludes to the tendency of water to disperse laterally. This behavior is the result of gravity.
All water on Earth, particularly that in the Earth, is under the inexorable influence of gravity. As gravity pulls ground water downward, that below is pushed aside by that above. Imagine, if you will, pouring a bucket of sand onto a concrete sidewalk. What do you get? A small pile of sand, kind of like a pyramid. Some of the sand falls to the side but some of it also piles atop that sand below. Although gravity is acting on the sand to pull it downward, the properties of the sand allow some of it to pile up in defiance of gravity.
Now imagine pouring that same bucket full of water onto the sidewalk. What happens? The water does not pile up at all. It completely spreads out very thin until it soaks into the concrete. Actually, it continues to spread out even after it has soaked into the concrete but that's not readily apparent to the person holding the bucket. The water is under the same influence of gravity as the sand but the properties of water do not allow it to pile up. Instead, it readily spreads out.
This tendency of water to spread out is the reason many basements are damp. Ground water is actually able to move in a similar fashion as the water poured from the bucket. As water at higher ground is under the influence of gravity, it is pushing down on the water below. The water below is being forced in all directions into any adjacent spaces that do not already contain a comparable amount of water. A basement is actually a cavity in the ground. As long as the basement contains less moisture content than the surrounding ground, that moisture will be compelled to enter the basement.
Although it may seem like a cliche that basements are always wet, there's a good reason for that. As long as a basement is below the surface level, ground water is continuously under pressure to enter that basement. The only way to keep a basement comfortably dry is to waterproof it.
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