What Causes Flooded Stairs?

Even modern, weather-resistant hatchways can leak from time to time. When this happens, flooded stairs are generally caused by wear and tear, extreme weather, and pressure-causing cracks on the walls and frames. The things most likely to cause this damage are:  

• Snap Freezes and Extreme Weather 

Repeated freezing and thawing can damage even the sturdiest of hatchways, as well as the sealant around the door to your basement. This is because they are commonly made of poured concrete, which is very susceptible to water intrusion. When water that has seeped into porous concrete freezes, the expansion can cause or widen cracks and let water into your basement. 

Damage to your hatchway can also be caused by how the soil around your home reacts to extreme weather and temperature changes. Expansive soils can swell and put pressure on your property when it rains or snows, for example, and cause cracks to form in your basement walls and hatchway. This will let water into your basement directly. 

• Foundation Damage 

Though hatchways are generally constructed separately, they are attached to your home pretty securely. As such, severe damage to or shifting in your foundation can put them under strain and cause them to crack, thereby letting in water. This can happen as a reaction to the removal of support or because the property shifts in a way that puts pressure on the hatchway. 

Foundation problems almost always begin in the soil. Whether the soil is fundamentally incapable of supporting the weight of a property or it is reactive to moisture levels in a way that makes it shrink and grow dramatically, it is almost always the cause of foundation damage. Once your foundation is damaged, however, the whole of your structure is affected, including your basement hatchway.