With all the snow that's come and quickly gone due to our strange weather lately, more and more of this is happening. In CT during the 40's and 50's there was a HUGE housing boom. Most of those post war houses are still very much in use and very much out of date. It was standard practice back then to install wooden framed windows on hinges to allow the homeowner to open them and get some cross ventilation in the basement (back then it wasn't thought to be a bad thing to have air flowing freely through the basement and up into your home.)
Before you get too sad and upset about your situation there are a few things that you do in deed have control over. I do implore everyone to get a moisture control system installed in their basements anyway, but there are definitely things that you can do before the installation.
1.) Extend all your rain gutter spouts at least 3 feet from the house. You can get parts for this at home depot. Don't be afraid to really get the parts together. You can rivet, bolt, screw, or heck, even duct tape the parts together. If you duct tape though, put some white spray paint on it, to cover it up...no sense in showing off your handy work to the neighbors ;-)
2.) Make sure that the flashing above your bulkhead door is flush against the house and is indeed keeping water from leaking back. These things do tend to rust and must be changed every so often. So keep your eye on that, and if in desperate need on the inside, run a bead of caulking down the seams of the bulkhead to the basement wall.
3.) Get your windows in your basement fixed and or updated. New windows have been designed to help with keeping your house energy effective and warm, so why not extend that benefit to your basement as well? PLUS having a new threshold for the window will give you a tighter seal which won't allow the picture above to happen until many many years from now.
4.) During a rain storm, take a walk outside. Map out the trouble areas of pooling and basement contact with water. This way you'll know more about the slope of your land, where it needs to go, and have more detailed information for the professional coming to help you install a Moisture control system.
there are some forums on Pioneer Basement that you can ask questions about other things you can do before an install to get your house ready.
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