The skies above your Maryland home are dark. A massive rainstorm is about to hit.

You’re thinking: “How bad will it be this time?”

In just a few minutes, the rain comes down in sheets, soaking your home, your lawn, your garden and, most of all, flooding your basement.

It’s a scary moment.

Once the storm ends, you break out the rags, mop and water vacuum. Here we go again. Last year was a record year for rain and flooding in Maryland.

If you own a basement, you have been through this more than once.

However, there are ways you can protect your basement from flooding. The threat of a storm doesn’t have to send chills down your spine. As a home foundation repair contractor, I can tell you: It can be done! Here are several basement flooding prevention tips that may help you stop the once-inevitable:

1. Clean your gutters: When soil, leaves, branches and other debris clog up your gutters, the water naturally is pushed down to the basement and foundation. Have your gutters cleaned twice a year, in winter and fall, to clean out all the junk in them.
2. Add downspout extensions: You may not have a quality drainage system around your house. If so, water may flood your basement after a storm.  Downspout extensions should be installed in drainage systems. The extension sends water away from a buildings’ fill wedge.
3. Replace leaking windows: Wood frames in basement windows sometimes can become rotted. Once they have rotted, they are so porous that water can leak into the basement. These old windows should be replaced by vinyl or aluminum windows that can impede or block water from entering the basement.
4. Drain the yard: If you see ponding in your yard after a storm, you may be a basement flood risk, too. Hiring a contractor to install drainage would probably end some flooding, too. Proper  grading around the perimeter of the house helps keep house dry.
5. Install a sump pump: Sump pumps pump water out of a pit in the basement away from the home. This keeps the basement or crawlspace dry.
6. Hire a foundation repair contractor: If you are having flooding issues in your home or on your property, they may be beyond your capacity to correct. If that is the case, hire a licensed home foundation repair contractor. They will do an assessment of the foundation and basement. Then, they can make recommendations and repairs.

Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia experience a lot of rain during the spring and summer. Protect your basement from more damage by making the smart adjustments now.

M Taylor Enterprise, Montgomery County, Maryland, has experienced home foundation repair contractors who can assess the reasons your home is flooding, make recommendations and make the installations that you need. Call us for a consultation at (301) 649-3406 or email us at matt@mtaylorenterprise.com.