Tips for homeowners to prevent water damage during thaw

With the spring melt underway, there are a few steps you’ll want to take to protect your home from water damage.

Even though winter is over, keep the shovels handy.

“If you have snow that’s right up against your foundation, you need to shovel it away. Otherwise that snow will melt, it will find its easiest path and it may end up causing water damage in your basement,” said Helene Henning-Hill, the city’s manager of sewer and drainage operations.

Also, check the eavestroughs to make sure they are clear.

Henning-Hill recommends using a roof rake for removing snow. This helps slow down the amount of water melt into the eavestroughs and allows them to catch up on draining it.

“At this time of year, sometimes they may have been iced over. You may need to get some ice removal product into your eavestroughs,” she said.

Homeowners should also ensure downspouts are unobstructed and pointed away from their houses.

“Extend them well away from the foundation of your house. You want to even add on some additional pipe, plastic tubing, just to get that flow of water away from the house,” said Henning-Hill.

Landscaping also factors into preventing water damage. She said grading should divert the moisture away.

Inside the home, Henning-Hill said people should check their sump pumps and backflow valves. Those are meant to keep water and sewage, respectively, out of your home.

It sounds like a bit of work, but she said if you keep up with it over the winter, there will be less to do in the spring.

“My husband and I, we try and model what we expect of residents,” she said. “We try and get out to shovel snow after every event so it’s not an overwhelming amount of work during spring melt. If you do a little bit at a time, it becomes manageable.

“Better this than having a wet basement and dealing with a wet rug or potentially some of your items that are destroyed because of water.”