However, if you live near a body of water, you may be out of luck, at the very least the odds are certainly not in your favor. The ground near lakes, rivers, ponds, oceans, and such bodies of water tend to have high water tables. This means that the amount of water already in the soil is higher than it would be in an area not near a body of water. The more water already present beneath the surface of the ground means that, when it rains or when the snow melts, less water can sink through the earth. Instead, that water remains on the surface, which leads to massive flooding.
This is known as hydrostatic pressure: when there is too much water in the ground for more water to be absorbed. The resulting pressure is what propels the surface water aboveground, leading it directly into your homes, depending on where you live and how well you have reduced hydrostatic pressure. The hydrostatic pressure is directly linked to the pressure of the water against your concrete basement walls, floors, and foundations. In order to both protect your home from water, as well as to relieve some of this hydrostatic pressure, you need to apply a concrete sealer to your vulnerable concrete.
In order to reduce the amount of hydrostatic pressure from entering a home it is best to use a densifying primer such as the Lithi-Tek 4500, followed up 7 days later by two coats of the Siloxa-Tek 8500 applied wet-on-wet. All of these sealers should be applied to dry concrete before the threat of any flooding. They will help lock out water from the concrete, all while helping reduce hydrostatic pressure, further making flooding in your home more difficult and more unlikely.
