SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Water can cause thousands of dollars in damage to homes and experts say many homeowners aren't aware until it’s too late. There are few simple things you can do to put less stress on your basement during these wet conditions.

Phil Droege, a senior estimator for Nova Basement Systems, is a basement professional.

He looked at a vacant home in South Bend with us and began his observations in the front yard.

"All that roof water is dumping down into the soil here. It's making a puddle here on the sidewalk and that's all soaking in towards the foundation,” said Droege.

He says water can damage a home’s foundation.

"We've got a pretty good wall crack right here,” said Droege.

When the soil around the house gets too damp, it pushes in the foundation of the home, eventually creating a crack.

"Then you have a foundational problem that's not easy to repair yourself and you need a professional definitely to repair a crack,” said Droege.

Another major and common issue during wet weather like this is sump pump failure.

"We started getting a few calls this morning, but we'll get more on Tuesday or Wednesday because people will come home from work let’s say Monday evening and find that their basement is flooded because their pump failed or it can't keep up with the volume of water because of the rain and the meltdown,” said Droege.

Aside from upgrading sump pump motors to battery backups or more powerful devices, Droege recommends directing gutter runoff so it's not directly around the home.

He also suggests sloping the soil around the house so water can flow away from the foundation.

Sump pump motors are available at local hardware stores priced between $35 and $300.
Droege recommends having a professional install the motor because if it's not installed properly you could have thousands of dollars in damage.