Here in the Atlanta area, we have gotten very heavy rain (unusual for our arid climate) today. Shortly after the rain started, my wife called me and told me there was a stream of water coming from our foundation, into our basement, and running out into the garage.

Upon inspection, there is nothing obvious. We have lived here almost 2 years with nothing like this ever happening. The foundation is difficult to access from the outside due to shrubbery. Inside, it looks like the leak is coming from near the door jamb connecting the basement to the garage.

What type of person should I call to deal with this? The leak is a lot slower now, though the rain continues...

Thanks,
cbarry

 

How old is your house? What type of basement walls do you have (poured or cinderblock)? Is the water seeping in from a joint, or at floor level?

It sound like it might be faulty construction.

 

About 20 years old.
The water only has seeped in once, during a big rainstorm. We have lived here about 2 years now, and have never had this problem before.

I am getting a foundation repair company to come look at it next week.

Any other advice?

Thanks,
cbarry

 

Good call. But remember that many foundation repair compaies make their living by fixing the problem from the inside - usually at the expense of the homeowner. Make sure you get more than one expert's advice, and make sure you don't overlook the obvious, like grading the soil away from the foundation on the outside, before signing an expensive contract.

 

Um... just to correct a small inaccuracy - Atlanta does not have an arid climate. We've been in a drought for 5 years, but the kind of weather you've been seeing for the past couple weeks is much more normal for the area. It's not green here for no reason

Atlanta gets more annual rainfall in inches than Seattle, WA or Portland, OR. Over 250"/year.

The good foundation repair/water proofing companies will recommend several courses of action - landscaping, french drains, and sealing the foundation against further incidence. I recommend getting a copy of Home Reports, or checking them online - of course I can't find their url right now, and I'm probably getting the name wrong. I'll post later when I get home and can find the name/url. They're a non-profit that surveys home owners for reports on local businesses in several different categories. Foundation repair is one of them.