I purchased a house in April 2010 that had (and still has) substantial "issues" of all varieties. This spring, I noticed that a reasonable amount of water leaks into the basement during the spring snow melt (it's Minnesota... plenty of snow can be expected every year). There were a couple of times last summer when I also noticed water in the basement when it looked like water was getting into the basement, but we weren't sure if it was the plumbing or not (we've fixed the plumbing... so that's no longer the problem). So, I am looking for advice on what to do about the leaking basement.

I have removed absolutely everything from the areas of the basement that leak so that they don't get wet. So, at this point, there is virtually nothing in the basement except concrete walls (these perhaps could be improved... but that's in the future) and a concrete floor.

We have no plans to ever finish the basement, so I am wondering if water leaking into the basement is actually a problem. That is, what long-term problems will a little bit of water in the basement cause?

The worst leaking problem that I have seen so far comes in a corner of the basement near the floor drain and the water simply went down the drain. It's enough water to cause mold growth on drywall or something similar, but I don't think that mold will grow on concrete, right?

In the meantime, I am not opposed to tackling projects that would help the problem. We are already planning on installing gutters this summer to direct water away from the foundation. We've also talked about installing drain tile around the foundation because the grading seemed insufficient. Any other ideas?

Most wall leaks are due to improper grading and/or downspouts draining against the foundation. If the walls are concret, not concrete block, look for cracks in the wall and apply hydraulic cement in the cracks. It's never a good idea to let "a little bit of water" stay around. Mold and mildew will grow on concrete and if the basement humidity stays high, on all exposed wood surfaces. Make sure downspouts drain at least 5 ft. away from the foundation and regrade if necessary. You may get away with interior wall sealing but that's not a good solution. If this continues, install a sump pump with a perimeter drain syatem.

Do you have a sump pump?

Thank you for the input. This is helpful -- you are largely confirming my opinion to start with gutters/downspouts and grading... I hadn't really thought of a sump/sump pump.

1. There are no downspouts, currently, because there are no gutters. We're going to add those soon. We'll definitely direct the downspouts away from the foundation.
2. The grading is not particularly great, but it's difficult to know for sure if it's a problem right now. When the snow melted, there was water EVERYWHERE -- I was actually surprised that so little water entered the basement given how much water there was outside. Certainly, gutters/downspouts would have solved a lot of this problem (that's why they're on our list of things to do ASAP).
3. The walls are concrete (not block). The leak that I saw was in the corner, where the two concrete walls meet. Does this sound like a good use of the hydraulic cement?
4. The basement was humid most of last summer. We ran a dehumidifier starting in August -- it helped but didn't get rid of all of the humidity. There was also humidity issues during the winter (we winterized the house) in that there was substantial ice-build up on the windows.
5. There is no sump/sump pump.
6. There was not a lot of water leaking into the basement during a very big snow melt, so I am guessing that the water leaks are only occasional (very heavy rains, snow melt, etc). This is really a guess, though, because I only recently removed various wall coverings -- they definitely had signs of water damage, but they'd been there for at least 20-30 years so that water could have come from anywhere at anytime.

Look for any crack and use hydraulic cement. Brian