Conrail 1985???

[Packer]

Ed, do you have a dehumidier and a shop-vac that can suck up water? Doth would help.

Strangely enough I've never had issues with flooding in my basement (technically a split-level; about as close as you can get to one in florida) and have had only one issue with flooding. It wasn't an act of nature, but of carelessness by my younger brother (he somehow screwed the toilet up so it wouldn't stop running, before leaving to watch a Brave's game). Hence the shop-vac

And Iain, Ed didn't drive 800 miles to see you. 

lmao, burn?

[MichaelWinicki]

Might be a french drain is in order.

Getting the water stopped before it ends up in the basement is a good thing.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Well, the water is a new (post winter) development, so its either the gutters (which I had observed) or something else reletively new. Hopefully getting the gutters fixed will fix it, otherwise it's on to plan B.

And of course this is while we're 100s of miles away so I CAN'T go shop vac it.

[Mark5]

Gutters are a good suspect. The ice pack from back to back blizzards was not kind to the north side gutter on my house.

[Bob Bufkin]

Well Ed.  I have the same problem with a gutter over my basement door.  Pours down the side of the house into the basement, not alot but enough to have to dry out around the door.

If worse comes to worse, I've got a bunch of model shipsand we could have a naval battle in your basement.

[conrail98]

For my house and a previous house, most of my problems came from my condensation line not draining properly, believe it or not. On this house, the gutters are a problem also, but the previous owners put in a drain around the perimeter, which has worked great except for one occasion of heavy rains and the sump pump going on strike for about 10 minutes. I've also put extenders on our downspouts that empty into catch drains attached to drains I dug through the rest of my yard to move water away from the house. It wasn't fun, but for all the rain and snow/melt we've had since living here, all but that one occasion has been perfectly dry,

Phil

[asciibaron]

i installed rain barrels and noticed after a heavy rain they were still empty.  being the hands on guy i am, i climbed up the ladder, which is about 3 feet short of reaching the gutters, and investigated.  i had to reach over the gutter and feel around - the gutter was completely full - that meant clogged drain.

i got a piece of channel bar from the stock pile and used that to push the clog down the downspout.  i heard it burp and then all hell broke loose.  the water very violently made it's way with a shove from gravity. the rain barrel adapter has a door on it to clean the screen - the door popped off and went about 10 feet.  the water shot about 15 feet - and filled the barrel about a foot.  gutters hold a lot of water!

the moral of the story - keep your gutters clean.  i'm sure the winter caused damming so i went for a look in the attic and found some minor water damage.  i'm going to have the gutters replaced next spring and while they are there - i'll have the re-wrap the eaves.

the french drain is working as designed at my house.  on random very dry days, the sump will spit out a few gallons!

welcome to home ownership Ed.  

it could be worse - my townhouse basement was flooded on Christmas - we came home to find 6 inches of water - the neighbor went out of town and TURNED OFF their heat.

[wm3798]

I pulled my gutters down (they were all screwed up anyway) and took them to the junk man.  Promptly converted the $20 he gave me into beer.  There's one area I think I need to put back up... a valley that dumps on the porch roof, but otherwise, I've suffered no ill effects from this decision... other than I ran out of beer after the usual period of time passed.  But don't worry.  I got more. ;D

[SquirrelHollow]

I pulled my gutters down (they were all screwed up anyway) and took them to the junk man.  Promptly converted the $20 he gave me into beer.  There's one area I think I need to put back up... a valley that dumps on the porch roof, but otherwise, I've suffered no ill effects from this decision... other than I ran out of beer after the usual period of time passed.  But don't worry.  I got more. ;D

That's an idea I can support.  I have trees over the gutters, and a low pitch roof (3-12).  I've been fighting these gutters for the last year.  I have to clean them every 2-3 months, replace the stupid nails with proper screws when the nails back out, and fix the down spouts at every cleaning (honestly... how do fist-sized limbs get wedged in my downspouts, so tight they rupture the things?).

I'll be in possession of a massive automotive heater core (brass  ) soon, already have about 25 lbs of "dirty brass" (cartridge casings that are not reloadable), I have about 250 lbs of aluminum cans saved up (I enjoy beer, as well... too much, possibly), and one of my brothers has about 200 lbs of old brass plumbing fittings stockpiled.  Forty five pounds of aluminum rain gutters would be a nice addition to the beer fund.

Massive quantities of adult beverages, and no rain gutter headaches after the nail holes are sealed...

[John]

I just put in gutter covers .. eliminates all the crap flying into them

[davefoxx]

I just put in gutter covers .. eliminates all the crap flying into them

...which allows you to keep the gutters, which prevent erosion around the foundation, and the downspouts, which can divert water away from said foundation.

DFF

[conrail98]

We put gutter covers, Gutter Helmet I believe, in right after we moved in, the gutters don't get clogged at all and with the rest of the drainage work done, it's been pretty good,

Phil

[asciibaron]

I just put in gutter covers .. eliminates all the crap flying into them

you don't have giant oak trees near by do you?

[sizemore]

I just put in gutter covers .. eliminates all the crap flying into them

If and when I buy a house. First item on my list to get installed.

The S.

[asciibaron]

If and when I buy a house. First item on my list to get installed.

the covers don't work with oak flowers when they get wet.  they clog up the holes or go between the openings.  my neighbor switched from the covers to the foam inserts.  they work better, but require some attention.  stupid oak flowers.