If you've just bought a home with a basement and don't want to find signs later that a leak might be forming, you need to have some work done on the yard and home immediately. Waiting for the next rainfall to see if the basement stays in good shape is foolhardy. Luckily, there are things you can do now to protect your home from the intrusion of water through the basement walls.

Check Drainage in Your Yard

Your yard's soil has to drain effectively to prevent water from soaking the basement walls. That means that both the soil has to drain well (i.e., letting water seep down toward the water table) and the land has to be graded so that excess water rolls away from the home and not toward it. Technically, the land around your home should already be graded properly, but poor landscaping and erosion over time can change the grading.

Waterproof Your Basement

Even terrific drainage won't help your basement should there be rain so heavy it causes localized flooding. Waterproofing your basement is essential for keeping out water that overwhelms the drainage system on your property. Even if your yard isn't flooding, if the rain falls so fast that it saturates the soil around your home, you still risk moisture seeping inside as the water in the soil gradually drains away or dries up. Waterproofing keeps that water outside, where it should be, and prevents mildew or mold from forming in dark, forgotten corners of the basement.

Get Up

On the face of it, this doesn't seem like a specific action that will protect your home, but it is. Get up and get your phone now. Make that appointment for waterproofing now. Arrange for landscape engineers to come in and inspect the drainage around your home now. Don't delay this because if you do a little research now, but say you'll make the calls later, you'll likely forget to call or decide to put it off again and again. Those literal first steps to the phone are among the most important you'll take regarding protecting your home from moisture.

Waterproofing contractors can evaluate your basement quickly and let you know what needs to be done, and they may also be able to give you pointers about handling your yard's drainage (though they won't be able to work on it themselves). Call them to get started now.