Waterproofing a Basement in Evansville, IN

Challenge

Evansville, IN has a known basement flooding issue due to the elevated groundwater and the silty clay soils covering portions of the city.  These homeowners were combating two issues at once: a flooding basement and bowing basement walls.  In a two part repair plan, the home had its walls stabilized and its perimeter waterproofed.

"What made the waterproofing portion of the repair a challenge was that we needed to make sure the walls were stabilized prior to starting to drain the walls, but the water needed to be removed to keep the walls from moving.  It was a chicken and egg situation," said Damon, the design specialist.

After consulting with the project foreman, Daniel, they decided to present a repair plan that started with walls being stabilized, then the Waterguard would be installed to get the walls draining, and finally, the team would finish torquing the walls and tightening the system after the Waterguard had been in place and functioning for a couple days.  The homeowners felt that this plan would minimize the risk of further compromising the walls. 

Solution

After the 7 Geolock Wall Anchors were installed along the north wall, the installation crew began trenching out and installing the Waterguard along that wall to direct the water to the sump pumps located in the northeast corner of the basement.  Next, the team moved on to install the 5 Geolock Wall Anchors along the West wall and then install the Waterguard beneath it.  Finally, they stabilized the south wall with another 7 Geolock Wall Anchors and completed the perimeter drain system.  They flood tested the Waterguard system and buried the discharge line in the yard, as well as filling and tamping the earth anchor potholes in the yard.  

The next morning, they came back to cement in the Waterguard system and tighten the Geolock Wall Anchors one more time.  The entire installation was completed in less than 5 days.

Project Summary

Owner: Tim Runyon

Project Manager: Damon Cheatham

Project Foreman: Daniel Steele