How Do You Keep Your Basement Safe from Melting Snow?
Most homeowners’ concerns when it comes to flooding relate mainly to burst pipes, backed-up sewers, and floods arising from natural phenomena such as hurricanes and heavy storms. Very few people ever think that the melting of snow in spring may also cause significant flood damage to their homes.
When the temperature begins to rise, crawl space and basement flooding is witnessed by many homeowners. But these are not the only challenges that rising temperatures can present you with. In this piece, we take a look at some of the measures you can take to keep your home safe from flooding as a result of melting snow-:
Safety from mold infestation
Mold is a menace for most homeowners during the spring, a season marked by rising temperatures and melting snow. A basement is a common place for mold infestation due to dark, damp and humid conditions.
Ideally, you should monitor your basement during this time of year to catch any infestations early and call for expert mold removal services immediately. If you notice any signs of infestation, you must act quickly. This is because mold spreads so fast, and causes serious health concerns for you and your family members.
Structural problems
Melting snow may not have the power of a raging flood to bring down a building, but it can compromise the structural integrity of one. When melting snow accesses places such as the basement, it may end up seeping through the walls and slowly eat into the concrete and other structural components of the house.
If not detected and corrected in a timely fashion, the walls may begin crumbling, before ultimately collapsing. If you ever reach this degree of damage to your basement, your entire house is likely to be unsafe, leading to significant financial costs in repairs and maintenance. The best way to ensure that these risks don’t develop is to regularly inspect your basement for signs of water damage. If you detect any signs of water damage to your basement, be sure to act with speed so that further damage is prevented.
Ensure proper storage
It is a sad fact that flood damage to irreplaceable items is common, yet such damage can be prevented. Places like the basement serve as a great storage space in most homes. Some of the items stored in the basement are not for daily use but still remain immensely valuable. Due to poor storage, whenever there is flooding in the basement, most of the items that could have been saved end up getting damaged.
Apart from damages done to items stored in the basement, melting snow may also destroy items such as pictures and paintings on the wall. The same is also the case for any item that may have been stored in cardboard boxes which are then placed on the floor. The good news is that such damages can be easily avoided by simply using property storage for all your valuables. You can buy inexpensive bins to better organize and store belongings in your basement and to properly protect your valuables from potential damages occasioned by flooding due to melting snow.
Be aware of weather reports
Another simple, free and easy way to minimize losses and damages due to melting snow is to simply preempt the flood. All you have to do is listen to flood warnings provided by weather stations. If you are in an area prone to flooding due to melting snow, and there is already a forecast, you can then go ahead and prep your home for the snow. Some of the steps you can take are to remove valuable items from high-risk areas such as the basement, improve the storage in the basement and simply ensure everything is secure before any potential flooding occurs.
Shovel away snow
One of the major reasons why you may end up with a flooded basement as a result of melting snow is your failure to shovel the snow around your home, especially near your basement. Many only regularly clear the snow in their driveway, ignoring the rest of the property.
Over time, and when temperatures begin to rise, the snow buildup around walls may slowly melt, leading to water seeping through into the home. Therefore, the simple act of clearing away snow, not just from your driveway but from the main house, can prevent serious damage.
Seal all visible cracks
Some of the avenues through which water can access your home include cracks in the walls and the foundation. Through visual inspection of the exterior and interior walls, you can easily identify the presence of cracks that melting snow can use to access the interior of the house.
If the cracks are relatively small, you can quickly and easily seal them using an epoxy sealer. If they are relatively wide, then you need to contact a professional for the necessary repair work. Remember that sealing the cracks is not a guaranteed way of keeping the melting snow away, but it will reduce some of the damages and the effects.
Invest in fans and dehumidifiers
If you notice that your basement is flooded as a result of melting snow, you should act immediately to remove the moisture and prevent any secondary damage to your house. You need to dry the place as quickly as possible, and for the best results, you should invest in industrial fans and dehumidifiers to get the job done smoothly and efficiently.
If you are unable to invest in such equipment, then simply call a water restoration company after a flood. They will arrive with every piece of equipment needed to dry your home and mitigate the effects of flooding.