If you notice your basement is flooding, and you aren’t sure whether condensation or seepage are allowing water to penetrate your basement walls, there are a few simple DIY tricks to help determine if you need to call a waterproofing professional. If your basement walls are wet, it could be taken as a sign of a much larger problem.

Water has several methods of transmission into your basement, whether it is leaky gutters and downspouts, or blocked drainage pipes. This problem needs immediate correction, and the first thing that must be done is to determine if condensation or seepage is the source of the problem. To do so, dry a small portion or area of the affected wall by using a simple cloth or even a hairdryer. Tape a piece of aluminum foil, around a foot squared, to the dried interior wall. Leave it there overnight or for several days. When you remove the foil, make sure to notice which side is wet. If the side facing your interior room is wet, condensation is your problem. Using a dehumidifier is an effective solution to this problem. If the side facing the wall is wet, take it as confirmation that seepage is occurring.

If this is occurring it is time to contact a waterproofing professional, Mar-flex recommends DryPatrol.