Tips To Keep Water Out Of Your Basements During Spring Thaw
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- We're facing another wet and sloppy day in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and we aren't going to dry out just yet.
As the snow continues to melt, it only has so many places to go. Homeowners are trying to find ways to prevent all that water from getting into their basements, and plumbers have been busy trying to help.
Excelsior homeowner Jay said he came home to this view and shared it on Facebook:
WCCO's Christiane Cordero has seen similar posts from Burnsville, Woodbury, and Northeast Minneapolis.
Mary Van Beusekom, in Excelsior, said her basement is fine but she had a plumber come out because the alarm on her sump pump went off. She says she thought, "Not again!" She said two years ago her basement was flooded.
A representative from Benjamin Franklin Plumbing shared a few hints for homeowners who wish to avoid the hassles and headaches of the spring thaw. He said, for those who have sump pumps, it's great to have the discharge line a bit up from the ground, to avoid having the snow cover it up. Many homeowners attach a hose from their discharge line out into their yard, but experts say that's not necessarily ideal because it can freeze what's in the line.
"The very first thing is to go outside and check your discharge line," Nate Anderson, from Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, said. "If (your line is) iced up, there's really nothing that we can do for it except disconnect that line and see if we can thaw it out."
Anderson said, if your basement is not taking on water, it's not a bad idea to throw a bucket of water down the sump pump to make sure that it's working properly.
Also, you want to try to maintain a five-foot clearing without snow surrounding your house.
