Dark basement staircase lit by an exit sign

Primer · Spring

Spring Thaw Basement Checklist

When snowbanks melt and April rain falls on frozen ground, water has nowhere to soak in. It heads for your foundation, and your basement plumbing has to move it away.

Plain steps you can do yourself, safely
Clear signs for when to stop and call
Written for Newmarket houses and water
A plumber on the phone if it goes sideways

What goes wrong in the pipes

Most basement water calls in York Region come in a few spring weeks. Pumps that have barely run all winter are suddenly asked to empty the pit every few minutes, discharge lines are still blocked with ice, and downspouts dump straight against the wall. Fifteen minutes of checking in early March catches most of those problems while they are still cheap.

Have these on hand

Garden hose or a full bucket
Flashlight
Rubber gloves
Wet vac

Hands-on steps

Lift the sump lid. Clear out gravel, silt and anything that fell in. Debris jams floats.
Pour in a bucket of water. The pump should start on its own, empty the pit and stop cleanly. Our sump pump test guide covers what each noise means.
Follow the discharge pipe outside. Knock ice out of the end and make sure it empties two metres or more clear of the foundation, where the yard falls off from the house.
Check the floor drain. Pour a jug of water down it so the trap seal is restored and the flow is proven.
Open the backwater valve cover, if you have one, and make sure the flap moves freely.
Extend the downspouts and clear the gutters of last fall's leaves.
Move valuables off the floor in storage areas, and put stored boxes on shelving.

Mistakes that turn a small repair big

Unplugging a noisy pump instead of finding out why it is noisy.
Running the discharge hose into the backyard of the neighbour or onto a walkway that ices over.
Connecting the sump discharge to the sanitary sewer; municipalities do not allow it.
Leaving the main line uninspected after a backup last year.

When to put the tools down and call

Ring us when a pump hums without emptying, never shuts off, or has a decade behind it. Phone immediately when water rises through the floor drain, because that points to the main sewer line rather than groundwater. If the water heater sits in that wet corner, have it looked at too; standing water corrodes the base, so see our water heater repair page.

Asked on site

When should I do this checklist?

Early March, before the big melt, and again after any heavy April storm.

How long do sump pumps last?

Roughly seven to ten years for many models, sooner if they run constantly. Replace before failure if yours is near that age.