Get your basement ready before freeze-up

There is a window every year between late August and the first hard frost when foundation work is easy, cheap and available. Once the ground freezes, exterior repair stops being an option until spring, and anything that was going to leak has all winter to get worse.

Here is the checklist. Most of these take under an hour.

1. Walk the perimeter and look at the slope

Soil should fall away from the house, roughly six inches over the first ten feet. Backfill settles over the years, and a foundation that shed water fine in 2015 may be collecting it now. Adding soil is the cheapest foundation work you will ever do, and fall is the time, because the ground is workable.

2. Extend every downspout

Six feet from the wall, minimum. A downspout emptying at the foundation puts hundreds of litres directly against your basement wall in a single storm, then the clay holds it there.

3. Clean the eavestroughs after the leaves drop

Wait for the leaves to actually finish falling, then clear them. A blocked eavestrough in October becomes an ice dam in January and sheets water down the wall all winter.

4. Empty and cover the window wells

Clear the debris, check the drain, and put covers on. A window well full of snow is a reservoir sitting against your foundation waiting for the March thaw.

5. Test the sump pump and drain the discharge line

Pour a bucket in, confirm it starts, confirm it stops. Then make sure the discharge line will not freeze shut, because a frozen line means the pump runs against a closed pipe and burns out.

6. Seal the cracks you can find, now

Any crack you can slide a coin into will take on water, freeze, and be wider in April. This is the single highest return item on the list, because a $1,200 to $2,000 injection in September is a much larger repair after two more winters.

7. Shut off and drain the exterior taps

A split hose bib line dumps water inside the wall the first time you turn it on in spring, and it often shows up as a wet basement that has nothing to do with your foundation.

8. Check the unfinished corners with a flashlight

Look at the wall-floor joint. You are looking for a damp line, white chalky residue, rust at the base of steel posts, or a musty smell. All four mean water has been reaching that wall even if it never pooled.

9. Do not pile snow against the house

When shovelling starts, throw it away from the foundation. A snowbank against the wall is a slow release water delivery system aimed at your basement.

Everything on this list is cheaper than the thing it prevents. That is the whole argument for doing it in September rather than March.

What to do next

If anything on this list turned up something, send us a photo and we will tell you what we are seeing at no cost.

If you want it looked at properly, book while the ground is still open. Inspection and written quote are free.

Related reading: sump pump failure signs and what waterproofing costs in Edmonton.

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