Having a wet basement is no fun and can lead to some serious damage to your home over time. Dampness if not removed can ruin floors, walls and can cause the growth of mold in your home. There are some things you can do, however, to prevent water in your basement:

• First, inspect the outside of your home. See if there is any place that slopes down toward your home. You will want to direct any flow of water away from your home with gutter extensions or by building up the areas near the basement.
• You can install a sump pump – if your basement does not have any drain pipes under the basement designed to handle rainwater you will need to dig a hole at the low point of the basement and install a perforated pit liner. If you already have rainwater drain pipes there is probably already a pit in place.
• Add a dehumidifier – this can dry out a wet basement after flooding or just eliminate dampness in the air.

Once you have the systems in place to address a wet basement there is very little to maintain. You may want to add a rechargeable battery backup unit or a sump pump failure alarm for extra insurance.