Whatever functionality your basement serves, it must be a healthy and dry basement to ensure hygienic living. Moisture in a basement can make it uncomfortable to live in and can also pose a danger to oneEUR(TM)s health. Apart from all that, it weakens the structure of the building. It is a well known fact that in order to solve something, you first have to know about the problem beforehand, analyze it and then dedicate a solution for the same.
You must know what causes the moisture and water problems in your basement. To know that you need to know that how water enters your basement system. Well, there are three possible sources of it, which are detailed below:

• The water from rain and ground water


• The interior moisture sources that can be such as unvented clothes dryers, bathrooms,steam,
  and humidifiers.


• From the humid air entering the basement from the outside and then getting condensed to the cooler surfaces of it.

The most common moisture movement mechanisms comprises of:

• Capillary suction


• Air leakage through walls and floor


• Vapor diffusion through foundation walls and floor

Now to tell you about the typical causes of basement moisture problems, these are:

1. Inadequate Grading

When the ground near to the foundation of the house or building has the same or sloping level to it then the water finds itsEUR(TM) way into the basement. In some cases this becomes worse when too much water gets clogged near the basement walls. This can be solved by placing earth around the house so as to cut the water routing to the basement walls.


2. Defective or Missing Gutters and Downspouts

When there are missing gutters and downspouts then those results to rainwater moving towards the foundation perimeter. Having sloped concrete sidewalks around your basements is effective in such cases.


3. Improperly Designed Window Wells

The carelessly built window wells makes it easy for the water to come towards the basement rather than repelling it away. This problem can be resolved by a proper installation of window wells.


4. Ineffective Drain Tile and Sump Pit

This becomes a possible cause for the moisture problems in a basement because of the traditional basement design and usage. In those times the basements were not used as a space for living and had ineffective drain tiles and sump pumps were placed under the floor slabs.


5. Improper Drainage with Under slab Ducts

Older homes had heating ducts placed under the concrete slab. Therein lies the possible serious health consequences from the mold contamination that can occur just because of the standing water inside the heating duct. Thus it is required that heating ducts must be properly insulated.


6. Structural Cracks

Often the concrete of foundations develops cracks and this will exaggerate the water problem. A repair is mandatory in such cases which can be done by proper waterproofing to relieve the pressure, which is the main cause of these cracks.