Why Is My Home Flooding?

There are many reasons your home could be flooding. These are the most common: 

• Drainage Problems 

If water is backing up in your basement, it could be that the drainage systems protecting your basement and property’s foundation are damaged, blocked, or simply inadequate. If you notice that your basement floods when there is very heavy rain, for example, it may be that your sump pump is not functioning as well as it should be. 

Alternatively, you could have poor drainage around the exterior of your property, thereby allowing hydrostatic pressure to build up and cause damage to your walls and foundation. In this case, the dampness in your home will be far less dramatic, but consistent and significantly more damaging in many ways. Persistent dampness, for example, can cause mold to form.  

• Burst Pipes 

The most dramatic and common cause of serious plumbing floods is damaged or burst pipes in a home. Thankfully, these are also the easiest to identify, given the copious amounts of water that they push into a property. Plumbing pipes can burst as a result of corrosion or sudden temperature changes and can be very destructive. 

Burst or damaged sewage pipes, however, are far worse (and a damaged or blocked main sewage line is the worst by far). These instances are far more severe because of obvious hygiene concerns; sewage in your home could make you very sick and will cause irreparable damage to your belongings. Thankfully, it is far less common for sewage lines to burst. 

• Broken Appliances 

Another common cause of flooding in a home is the breakdown of appliances like water heaters, washing machines, and dishwashers. A modern property relies on many appliances to function, and when these appliances fail, they can cause serious floods, as well as inconvenience and frustration.

Anyone who has experienced a serious washing machine malfunction, for example, will understand just how much water these appliances can let loose when something goes wrong. The scale of flooding from an appliance breakdown can vary from slow, steady dripping to a violent expulsion of gallons of water at once.