Vincennes, IN Leaky Basement Repair

Thursday, January 2nd, 2014 by Cassi Sherman Henes

Challenge

This leaky basement in Vincennes, IN was causing huge problems for the homeowner family.

The natural airflow in a house is from bottom to top. This sucks the moist air and everything in it up into the living areas of the home. Mold spores, odors, humidity and critters create a very unhealthy environment for people. The family in this Vincennes home are allergic to these things, and experience a host of symptoms like headaches, coughing, increased indoor allergies, and frequent cold-like bouts of illness. They didn't realize that their leaky basement is affecting their health.

Damp environments are unhealthy and destructive places where mold thrives and spreads by producing millions of airborne spores. In turn, heating and cooling costs are higher, especially if you have to deal with appliances sitting in damp or wet patches because that significantly decreases the lifespan of water heaters, AC units, and the like. It's also costly to routinely be completely water and mold mitigation. Insects and critters of all kinds love damp environments and wet materials. Rot and decay occur in damp environments causing structural damage. Seasonally wet or flooded basements are extremely unhealthy.

Aside from needing a mold mitigation service and a dry basement all the time, the homeowners presented another challenge. One largest challenges the Healthy Spaces Installation team faced in this situation was dust control because multiple members of the family suffer from severe asthma and the additional dust released into the air could cause serious breathing problems.

Solution

The Healthy Spaces installation team installed over 50 linear feet of Waterguard along each side of the perimeter of the basement. The block walls were thickly coated with paint and skimcoat material, which was directing the water down the walls through the blocks and into the seam or gap between the poured concrete basement slab and the block walls. As soon as the Healthy Spaces installation team began to dig out the perimeter for the Waterguard installation, water began filling the trenches--even above the footer! This was an amazing amount of water to see because the basement had only been slightly leaky with damp patches.

One benefit that occurred from this extra water intrusion was that it virtually eliminated the dust problem that was a huge concern for the asthmatics in the family. Regardless of that boon, the Healthy Spaces installation team turned off the forced air HVAC system to prevent it from sucking in dust. They also hung plastic and created a negative air flow to draw the majority of airborne dust out of the basement through the window. Naturally, no project like this will be dust-free and so the family chose to leave the house during the installation and to have a housecleaning crew come in to remove as much dust as possible before they returned home.

As the Waterguard system was installed, the system immediately began moving water toward the sump pump pit. To that end, the Healthy Spaces installation team turned on the sump pump and connected it to a temporary discharge line to keep the system removing the water along the perimeter and out of the basement.

Project Summary

Lead Basement Specialist: Steven Joseph, JR

The Healthy Spaces Installation team began installation along the south wall of the basement and slanted the system toward the east end of the basement.

Here is one of the tricky corner pieces along the perimeter that the installation team had to connect. The Waterguard system is easily able to cover each jog and turn of the basement perimeter.

You can see here that there is a small 6" corner in the basement wall. The entire perimeter must be covered with Waterguard in order to keep the basement dry all the time.

Here is the final length of the Waterguard leading to the sump pump. You can see here how the wall flange fits up against the walls in order to catch any water leaking in from the wall as well as moving subsurface perimeter water from below the basement slab.

In this photo, you can see the white discharge line coming up from the sump pump. This will remove all the water.

In this picture, you can see the Waterwatch alarm sitting in the sump pump. The Waterwatch alarm will alert the homeowners if the sump pump loses power, becomes overwhelmed, or stops functioning properly and fills up with water.

Cement is applied to the perimeter drain to keep it locked in proper position.

The excavated dirt and debris has been cleared away and the cement smoothed out. As soon as it is dry, the family will be able to rest easily with a basement that is dry all the time.

The homeowners have decided to finish the basement now that they don't have to worry about leaking.

The sump pit is similarly finished to create a smooth and professional appearance. The homeowners will be making this corner of the basement a utility room and no one will have to worry about flooding again.

Finally, the discharge line is complete and permanent, so the water can be directed out of the basement reliably.

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.

Vincennes, IN Leaky Basement Repair

Challenge

Solution

Project Summary

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