Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program: Protecting Your Basement From Flooding

A flooded basement is a total nightmare. Besides wrecking your property underneath, it’s also very expensive to recover from. If you’re dealing with a flooded basement right now, then you must speak to a professional for remediation and prevention services.

If you aren’t today, your home might suffer from one tomorrow and you should consider basement flooding protection.

Your basement can easily flood, so you should be thinking about prevention — which will cost much, much less than recovering — today. It’s a worthwhile investment.

In fact, the City of Toronto (and other municipalities in Ontario) are offering subsidies to help you protect your home from basement flooding. If you want to be in a strong position for getting these subsidies and, in turn, prevent basement flooding, then keep reading!

How Basement Flooding Occurs

Our starting point should be to understanding how basement flooding actually occurs.

Yes, severe rain or sewage issues can increase the risk of basement flooding, but the cause of it is actually external water flowing through your walls, foundation, or sewer back-up.

So, you might ask, “how does water enter my basement?”

Well, as this diagram below shows, water can enter your basement through a floor or wall cracks, blocked weeping tiles, pipe cracks, or lots sloping towards your home (instead of away).

Entry Points for Basement Flood Water

Source: Kingston Utilities

Houses with the structural risks shown above are at-risk of a basement flood year-round, but the risk rises significantly during rain and other wet conditions, such as melting snow.

If your lot slopes towards your house, then the rainwater that accumulates or “pools” in the area will flow towards your home. If there are cracks, holes or other “unintended flow paths” resulting from the age of your house, the water could enter your basement.

If you lack a sump pump system to pump accumulating groundwater above and away from the foundation, you could be at risk of water flowing up from the foundation to your basement floor.

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Sump Pump (Source: icemanj via DepositPhotos)

Your weeping tile — which is a drainage pipe — could partially or fully collapse, or have various sediments impeding the flow of water. As a result, the groundwater will not be able to flow via that pipe and, as a result, accumulate around the foundation.

Weeping Tile (Source: Wikipedia Commons)

Your Basement Flooding Prevention Options

In the end, the risk of basement flooding rises with ageing structures (e.g., cracks and holes in the foundation and walls) and the lack of functioning water-pumping systems.

To prevent basement flooding, you must focus on repairing your house’s structure as well as install (or repair) your backwater valve, sump pump, and weeping tile.

Fortunately, the City of Toronto (and other municipalities in Ontario) are offering subsidies to homeowners install and/or repair their water-pumping systems.

In other words, not only is it possible to prevent the massive cost of basement flooding, but you can do so at a relatively lower upfront expense thanks to your municipality.

Get a Property Manager That Will

Prevent Your Basement from Flooding

Apply for a Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program

The City of Toronto’s Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program is offering homeowners up to $3,400 in subsidies (per individual property) for water-pumping systems.

Covering the following systems, the subsidy also covers the cost of getting permits as well as labour, materials, and taxes — i.e., ancillary costs.

Backwater Valve

A backwater valve is designed to close your home’s access to the sewage system in times of heavy or extreme rain (i.e., prevent sewage water from entering your home).

You can use the subsidy to pay for 80% the installation or replacement of a backwater valve system at a cost of up to $1,250 including ancillary costs.

Sump Pump

The City is offering to subsidize the installation or replacement of a sump pump system at 80% for a cost of up to $1,750 including ancillary costs.

Severing Weeping Tiles

You can also get a subsidy of up to $400 for the cost of severing your weeping tiles from the City’s sewage system.

Besides Toronto, subsidies are also available to homeowners in Halton, London, Windsor, Mississauga, and others. Just consult your municipality’s website.

Next Steps

For an individual owner of a detached or semi-detached house or townhouse, the process is simple: find the relevant subsidy applications and apply.

But if you own a home as part of a Condominium Corporation, you should also consider raising flood prevention as an issue with your condominium property manager.

You might be liable to additional requirements (as a result of being in a Condo Corporation) before installing or repairing your water-pumping system(s). Moreover, your Condo Corporation could work on a widescale plan to improve basement flood prevention in your entire area (such as by improving the lot grading).

You need a property manager that is on top of basement flood prevention and other issues of importance to YOU. Request a FREE proposal from ICC Property Management Ltd. to see how we’ll do everything to maintain and elevate your property’s value.