How to Rebuild Dirt Around the Whole Foundation if Water Is Leaking in the Basement

Walk around the perimeter of the home or structure and look for both shallow and deep depressions in the topsoil along the ground. Make note of their locations by hammering small wooden stakes in the ground in the center of each depression. Rain run-off and melting snow or ice typically pool in these depressions beneath the soil line, collect over time, and eventually leak into your basement. While you’re outside, also make note of where the gutter’s drain spouts release; if they drain too close to the foundation, they may be contributing to collected moisture as well.

Purchase bags of soil that are high in clay content. These can be purchased at many landscaping and home improvement stores and are specifically blended for re-grading foundation soil levels. Purchase a bag or two of sand as well. You won’t need as many bags of sand as you do for the clay soil since not as much sand is used as filler.

Shovel one or two shovelfuls of sand into each depression until the depression is filled about ¼ of the way. You need to shovel less if the depressions aren’t very deep. Fill the remainder of the depressions with the clay-based fill dirt until they’re about level with the surrounding soil line. Tamp the soil down flat with the shovel to impact the dirt. Lay sod over each filled in depression to “hide” the fill dirt instead of seeding with grass as high clay content inhibits grass seed from growing.

Add spout extensions to the ends of the spouts on the home’s guttering system and move the spouts away from the foundation. This redirects draining water away from the foundation and the filled-in depressions, thus further waterproofing the basement.