Recent Rains Leave Basements Flooded

April 2, 2008
By Will Buss
and Rickeena J. Richards
News-Democrat

Weeks of precipitation across the metro-east left many residents with flooded basements - and local hardware stores with a boost in business.

"We've sold out of sump pumps several times within the past couple weeks," said Dave Dyar, a clerk at Don's Hardware Parts Center in Swansea.

Dyar said the store had to resort to a secondary vendor to order more pumps.

"We just couldn't keep up with them all," he said. "And anything to go with the sump pump was a really hot item here recently."

That was also the case at Home Brite Ace Hardware in Belleville, assistant manager Frank Wesling said.

"During that big rain is when we started having problems with people coming in and getting sump pumps and shop vacs," Wesling said. "Anything that would pick up water out of the basement, they were buying."

Dyar said sump pumps can be the most effective method for homeowners addressing flooding, whereas shop vacuums can be handy for final cleanup.

"You'd be better off with a sump pump than a shop vac," he said. "Shop vacs are good for puddles, but for flooding it's just not going to do the continuous work. You'd be better off with buckets than a shop vac until the final cleanup."

Recent heavy rains increased the number of calls for Woods Basement Systems. The Collinsville waterproofing service usually fields between 100 to 200 calls a week, but marketing specialist Dave Thompson said recent weeks have produced as many as 600 per week.

He also attributes the recent spate of business to the fact that before the record setting precipitation for February and March, the greater St. Louis area had experienced a precipitation deficit over the previous two years. Thompson said that over time, the clay and footings within house basement had cracked.

"The footing does what our foot does for our body: it keeps it erect," he said. "that may have relaxed enough between the vertical footing and letting water in from the exterior. We've had calls from people who have lived in a house for 10 years and never had a leak and suddenly have leaks now."

Woods provides free booklets with advice about how homeowners can prevent water leaks. Thompson said that one of the most improtant tips he suggests to property owners is that they should make sure their downspouts send water as far as 7 feet from house, if not further.

"The further away, the better and less likelihood of it being there ponding in the yard," he said.

Ken Haas, a manager at Basic Hardware Center in Belleville, suggested making sure the land that surrounds a home slopes downward and away from its foundation so water runs away from the home.