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[attach]670[/attach]Steve Boyle wasn’t surprised to see a soggy basement in his Toronto home almost every time it rained.
“We didn’t have significant flooding but we always had water issues so anytime there was heavy rain we’d have water seep up through the floor,” he said.
A decision to renovate the unfinished basement led to Boyle taking preventative action.
“I was worried about mould and things like that, so we decided that if we want to have the basement with a living space we need to make sure that we don’t have the dampness.”
Toronto Water officials took the fourth anniversary of the severe Aug. 19, 2005 rainstorm, which caused flooding damage to thousands of Toronto homes, as an opportunity to promote a new basement flooding prevention handbook and demonstrate how some of the 20 recommendations are working on Boyle’s retrofitted home.
With the severity of storms seeming to increase every summer, officials say homeowners need to start looking at what they can to protect their homes from precarious weather systems.
“We’re trying to understand why these things are showing up in more communities on a bigger scale than we’ve ever seen before,” said Paul Kovacs, executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. The research organization works with municipalities and the insurance industry and created the basement flooding handbook.
“Until recently (home insurers) always said their big issue was fire,” Kovacs said. “Suddenly this is costing them more than anything else.
“This is their number 1 issue now in the insurance industry.”
In Boyle’s case measures taken to prevent flooding included eavestrough downspout extensions and splash pads, a French drain installation to prevent the downspout from draining onto the driveway and the installation of a sump-pump with sump-pit.
Gaps were also sealed around the furnace and water heater exhaust vents. A licensed plumber also ensured that a backwater valve was installed and functioning properly. The retrofit cost $8,000.
Boyle said he’s pleased with the results.
“We haven’t — touch wood — had any water issues,” the Parkview Ave. resident said. “It’s dry and in heavy storms I don’t worry.”
Protecting the home is a shared responsibility, said Toronto Water director Michael D’Andrea, as the city’s sewage and drainage infrastructure was not built to keep up with such ferocious storms.
Depending on the amount of rainfall and how fast it falls, the sewer drainage systems can be overwhelmed in any area of the city, increasing chances of basement flooding.
One of the things the city is doing to mitigate the problem is focusing on the Basement Flooding Work Plan that identifies 31 problem areas. Where basement flooding has been severe, 200 infrastructure improvements have been proposed at an estimated cost of $240-million.
D’Andrea pointed out the city also offers an incentive program to assist homeowners looking to protect their home from basement flooding. For instance, eligible property owners can receive 80 percent of the invoiced cost for a back-water valve, up to $1,250.
“We want to make sure that you’re doing everything right to help safeguard yourself against basement flooding,” D’Andrea said.