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Protecting your basement against water damage...

Water can be so destructive. You'd be surprised how a little bit of water can cause a great deal of damage. In some cases, the true damage comes after the water is sucked up in the form of mold and mildew. Protecting your basement against water damage should be a serious consideration. It's not just ground water that you need to be concerned about, it's an internal rupture of your copper plumbing, a broken washing machine hose, or a ruptured water heater.

There are ways to protect your basement. While a 100% safeguard is not possible, you can put the odds in your favor. Here's some tips.

SUMP PUMP - An obvious safeguard would be the installation of a quality sump pump. You might be thinking that you don't need a sump pump because you have no ground water problems. Sump pumps don't only protect against ground water. It can pump out water from a ruptured water heater or a broken pipe within the house.

1 gallon per minute x 6 hours = 360 gallons of water on your floor.

Think of how much water could accumulate while you're at work. A leak of one gallon per minute is 60 gallons per hour. Over a period of 6 hours, while you're at work, 360 gallons of water can be filling your basement. Empty 10 full bathtubs in your basement and you'll get an idea of how much water that is.

If you're concerned about a power outage, a back up sump pump would be a wise choice. The system shown at the right is manufactured by Zoeller. These systems run on a marine grade battery and can provide several hours of run time should you lose power. Sold as a complete system, it includes the back up pump that gets connected into the main sump pump discharge pipe. Also included is the battery charger and alarm that notifies you of a problem, even if you weren't home when it occurred.

BUY A QUALITY SUMP PUMP - Your sump pump is going to be responsible for possibly saving you thousands of dollars of damage along with one immense headache. Purchase a quality pump from a reputable manufacturer. Where do you find a quality sump pump? In my opinion, from your local plumbing supply house. Plumbing supply houses deal mainly with trade professionals and carry high quality products.

Sump pumps come with warranties that may be 1 to 5 years. When purchasing through a local supply house, you can bring the pump back to them directly if it fails. Generally you do not need to send it back to the manufacturer. Find out the return and repair policies before purchasing your sump pump. You can't afford to wait two weeks for a pump to be repaired. This would leave you with no protection.

Test your pump every few months by dumping buckets of water or putting a hose into the sump pit. Always keep debris out of the pit that might interfere with the operation of the float or get jammed in the pump's impeller.

KEEP THE WATER FROM TRAVELING ACROSS THE BASEMENT