HOME INSPECTION AND RADON MEASUREMENT Chicago, Illinois (708) 453-8447

The last couple of days have been harsh on those in our area, we are close to a rivertown.  River grove, is suffering
(that used to be a good place to build a city.. long ago when it meant easier trade)

Go into a hardware store and you will see a very busy plumbing aisle. Why? because every one is trying to keep water out of their basements, trying to hold back flooding.
People are looking for drain plugs, backflow valves, sump and ejector pumps, anything to help...even downspout extentions.

If you did not have a sump pump, it is very likely your basement got more than a foot of water.  This storm was unique, the rainfall long, and the ground did not have a chance to absorb water fast enough, SO some times youll get a combination of seepage from groundwater and backflow from the completely overwhelmed sewer sytem. The system can't handle so much rain water- this is why i recomend that downspouts are not dishcharging into the storm drain, because the system was not built to handle the amount of use it gets today.

If you have an overhead sewer / flood control system, now it the time you'll be thankfull you have it ready.  Those systems will keep nastly sewer water from coming back into your home. BELIEVE ME, you dont want any part of that.

The seepage (if it has a way in) will still occur , especially if your home is an older one that was built in a time when basements were not considered as possible living spaces or water proofed accordingly. Now you can have drain tile installed within the inside perimeter of your foundation, which will usually handle the seepage.

Best case scenario is that you have a home that has had its exterior foundation walls waterproofed, and you have a sump and/or an ejector pump WITH A BATTERY BACKUP SYSTEM or have a good flood controll system,

what kind of flooding did you get? was it mostly sewer backup, or was it mostly groundwater seepage? If you are often getting a lot of groundwater seepage, or did when the rain overwhelmed us, you should consider that wherever water was coming from the ground- SO CAN RADON GAS -  did you have lots of different spots of seepage?  All are potential doorways for radon gas.