Leaking Basement in Owensville, IN

Thursday, December 26th, 2013 by Cassi Sherman Henes

Challenge

The challenge in this home is a leaking basement foundation. Every time that it rains, or the level of groundwater rises, the block foundation wall weeps in several areas, the seam between the basement floor and the basement wall gushes water and the entire floor becomes damp. In some rains, the floor has standing water up to 4 or 5" in it. The amount of water pouring into the basement has created other problems, too. There is a consistent odor of moisture and rot pervading the basement. The basement subfloor has a coating of mold spores on it and the subfloor is warped and squeaky. At this point, the homeowners are looking to place their home on the market and they know that they can't sell the home in its current condition.

Solution

Thankfully, the homeowners called Healthy Spaces and the basement experts there came up with a comprehensive solution to keep the basement dry all the time, get rid of the mold, lower the elation humidity, and replace the warped sections of the subfloor.

First, the Healthy Spaces installation team installed a perimeter drain system called Waterguard to capture the groundwater coming in from the floor and walls. The Waterguard system was a particularly good solution to this problem because of its unique wall flange feature, which allows the system to capture wall water and direct it toward the sump pump.

Second, the Healthy Spaces installation team installed a SuperSump into the Waterguard System complete with a WaterWatch alarm. This alarm will go off if the sump pump ever fails, loses power, or becomes overwhelmed.

Next, the Healthy Spaces team installed a Sanidry dehumidifier into the basement. This dehumidifier will reduce the relative humidity, inhibiting mold growth. It will also help remove that moist rot smell.

Finally, the installation crew removed the old warped subfloor joists and replaced them with new ones. Thanks to the Waterguard System, the new subfloor joists will not experience the mold and warping that the old ones did.

Project Summary

Project Manager: Damon Cheatham

Here is the entrance to the walk in basement. Just outside the door is a set of stairs that have been sinking and directing moisture down into the basement.

The basement is partially finished, but has had to be repaired multiple times from water intrusion, so the carpet is constantly pulled up and having to be replaced.

Here, you can see the exposed block foundation wall. The water that leaks into the basement often causes problems with the power, too, because the water runs right down onto the outlets

Here is one of the seams between the wall and floor where water intrudes on a regular basis.

This basement bedroom is piled high with everything from the other rooms when it rains. Due to the outside grade of the yard, this room does not actively flood during rain, but it does still suffer from mold, high relative humidity, and moisture.

Here, you can see the blooms of mold on the wall from the constant stream of water coming in.

In this photo, you can see where the installation crew has started to dig the trench for the Waterguard system to be installed.

Here, the sump pump is being installed to remove the water from the basement.

About the author

Cassi Sherman Henes

Cassi holds over 15 years experience in the construction, real estate, and education industries. She is certified in foundation repair technology, soil dynamics, and system design from the Foundation Supportworks Institute.

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Leaking Basement in Owensville, IN

Challenge

Solution

Project Summary

About the author

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