the most important thing you can do is
keep water away from your house whenever
it's raining the water is pouring on
your house it's going to end up
someplace if the ground around your
house is pitched toward the house that
means it's just going to funnel it right
into the basement so check the top soil
areas the planting areas around your
house we put a level down here and this
is just about level well that's not
going to help any what you're looking
for on a ground surface a soil surface
is a pitch of about 1 in per foot so
water runs away that means that up here
against the wall it should be about 4 in
higher than it is out at the end of this
4T level that's what you're looking for
this means adding soil around the house
build it right up to window wells if
necessary but the point is make sure
that it's pitched away from the house
wherever possible that means water goes
away and not toward your basement once
you've got the dirt around the house
raked out take your level and set it up
against the house then go to the outside
end of the level and lift it up about 4
in now check the bubble in the center of
the level if it's level that means that
you've got a 4 in Pitch over 4T 1 in per
foot that's exactly what we
want