Waterproofing & Underpinning Blog

When you are in the process of purchasing a home, your home inspector will look for signs of water damage in the basement.

Now with the mild spring temperatures upon us, you may be thinking ahead to summer which doesn’t seem so far away anymore. With the weather being so nice, this is a great opportunity to take some time to run a perimeter check around your house to see if there are potential water leak issues.

Now with summer right around the corner, Toronto is feeling much warmer and not just weather wise. The hotter temperatures give rise to backyard parties and a great opportunity to get to know your neighbours. If you haven’t done so yet, inviting your neighbors over for a backyard bbq or patio party is a great way to instill a sense of community and comradely amongst neighbouring families.

The mild spring conditions Toronto residents have recently experienced is a welcome retreat from the harsh bitter winter we’ve just endured. The spring thaw has eradicated most if not all of those unsightly snow banks, which gives Torontoers a clear indication that spring has finally arrived.

Now with spring here, you might be thinking about replacing your windows if they’re older or if you’ve experienced leakage issues during the winter months. If the leak has been continuing for some time, the frame around the window is likely damaged and/or rotted which if that’s the case; it will also need to be replaced. Many older homes in Toronto and the rest of the GTA weren’t designed and constructed to have livable basements.

Now that spring is just about here – officially starting Thursday March 20th, many homeowners might be delighted to welcome the spring thaw. With the gradual rise in temperatures we here in Toronto are beginning to experience, some of us may be concerned about what effect this winter’s extreme cold and frost has had on their house.

Eavestroughs or gutters as they’re commonly known in the U.S. are part of a home’s water drainage system and consist of a series of narrow channels installed against the edge of a home’s roof – collecting and diverting rainwater that’s shed by the roof. Water collected by the eavestrough is normally fed through a downspout from the roof edge to the base of your house where it is either discharged via runoff or collected.

Frequent rain is common in Toronto during the rainy months of the year which can saturate the soil surrounding your house. If you keep a lush front yard or backyard requiring regular irrigation, this will also contribute to another source of water that the soil surrounding your house will be taking in.

Most people living the GTA will remember the flood of July 2013, where thousands of houses experienced flooded basements and power outages. The record breaking rains affected more households than ever making this the most costly natural disaster Ontario has ever seen. The Insurance Bureau of Canada reported a whopping $850 million in property damage.

Regardless of where you live in the GTA, houses with sump pumps have a reduced risk of basement flooding. The mechanism behind the successful operation of a sump pump involves a sump pit which collects excess water coming from a home’s weeping tile. The rising water in the sump pit starts the sump pump which drains the sump pit through the discharge pipe, taking the water away from your house.