The Riddle of the water

When water incursion happens, the roof isn't necessarily the culprit. Maybe snaking a drain line, or clearing debris from a clogged gutter, temporarily will stem a leak. But a recurring problem usually means other forces are at work. It takes persistence-and a team with the right skills and patience—to identify the source and apply a solution.

- MARY ELLEN POLSON

As bouses age, trees grow up around them, leading to blockages in old drainage systems, trapping rainwater in areas that were never designed to handle it-which allows water to get into the house.

In a leafy North Carolina suburb, on a perfectly dry day, water gushed out of a basement drain at the historic stone Tudor Revival house. A maintenance crew had been cleaning out the drains in the window wells on the front of the house and were utterly surprised that the water burst up in the basement. As the water inched closer to the heating and cooling system on the floor, the crew feverishly looked for a way to divert it.

Little did they know that the engineering of the house's subterranean drainage system had water from the window wells first running through piping in the basement, past a drain, then out underground on the other side of the house. Whenever there's a clog from tree roots or debris anywhere along the line, water pops up through the drain. Overloading the drain with water all but guarantees a flood.

Emergency repairs included adding a French drain to carry water a distance away from the house, plus a new drain line to capture water from two downspouts. The owners, Terry and Denis Marcellin-Little, also added a sump pump. It runs whenever water gathers in the basement. "We haven't had a flood since we cleared that line and added itknock on wood," says Terry. "Whenever that water rises [from the ground], it's getting out instead of coming up in our basement."