Flooded Basement Clean Up Service

Hydrostatic pressure: what it is and how it can affect the structural integrity of your entire building.

Hydrostatic pressure affects every basement whether you realise it or not. It is basically the pressure that is exerted by a liquid at the point where two forces are balanced. In this instance the force of ground water pressing in on your basement walls and the engineered structure (your basement and the air within the basement) pushing back on that force. Cancelling each other out. Or, in unfortunate circumstances, not cancelling each other out. Which can result in a flooded basement. Requiring the need of a professional flooded basement cleanup service.

When you introduce water into the basement the force that is pushing back on the ground water is increased. The increase is determined by the depth of the water (an increased depth of water results in the increased weight of water). At the same time the pressure from outside the basement is increased to maintain the balance.

If the water inside your basement is removed too quickly the pressure from outside the basement doesn’t have time to adjust to the new point of balance. This basically means you can end up with more force pushing in than the structure is designed to withstand, resulting in severe structural damage or catastrophic failure of the structure.