basement flood

[Jerry Lozier]

Weekend only 12 year old vacation home in snow country, owners said in disclosure snow melt caused flooding. Yes it has negative grade as shown.

However trying to figure out how they could get 6"+ flood (sediment line around garage interior) from snow melt and a garage door entrance unless they has garage door was sandbagged? Slight negative slope at garage apron (maybe 2")

minimal visible damage to sheetrock, loose tape only, so water must have went up and down real quick?

Balance of downstairs rooms no visible evidence of flooding except carpet had been removed.

Any other thoughts?

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[John Kogel]

They shoveled snow off the deck and it formed a solid ice dam in front?

[kurt]

My first thought.

Or, I've often seen solar melt from upper decks hit the (still freezing) concrete below, and create an ice dam.

The negative pitch on the apron sure doesn't help.

[Jerry Lozier]

yep, could be an ice dam. thanks

[Jerry Lozier]

Good call John and Kurt... from the owners

"In January of 2009, the whole XXX River area had not only received several feet of new snow, but then it rained about 15 inches in the span of 2 days. This created a massive amount of run-off and localized flooding in the whole area.

We had received quite a bit of snow prior to this as well so I had a neighbor come over and occasionally shovel the snow off our deck (we live over 120 miles away so we rely on locals for snow removal and plowing). He shoveled the snow just randomly over the deck so that it created a big pile of snow around the perimeter of the patio below the deck. When all the rain hit, there was essentially a river of water that was coming down XXX Road and our driveway was a low point at which the water flowed down into, down the side of our cabin, then behind the ?snow dam? that was created by the shoveled snow from the deck. This water build up behind the snow dam and then proceeded to then flood back into the garage and entire lower level of the cabin. The water rose about a foot and then remained for about a day before a small section of the snow dam broke loose from around the patio and the water drained out".