Ayers Basement Systems Before & After Photos

After waterproofing this customer’s home a few months back, we received a call asking us to come back out to Lansing, MI and help with the finishing job they were doing. The owners had plans to create a bedroom in the basement for the family and needed to upgrade several aspects of the basement, including their windows. Egress replacement windows, like the one seen in the after photo, are perfect for finished basements because they look just like windows in any other finished room and offer an alternative escape route in the event of an emergency. Not only that, as you can see, the egress windows are much larger and allow more light to filter into the basement. The waterproof well will keep the window protected while allowing it to do what windows are meant for, brightening up rooms.

This a unique before and after piece because the before photo shows the early stage of the installation process. In the before photo of this Lansing, MI home, you can see where a window well duct drain was installed to catch leaking water that was coming in through the window. It’s very common for windows to separate from their original frame and begin to leak. Our solution is to force all the leaking water to one spot and then use the window well duct drain the leak. The duct leads directly to a perimeter drainage system that sits under the footing of the floor. After the ducts were installed, the team replaced the previously removed finished walls with rigid plastic panels where the water could flow to the drainage system without being seen. As you can see in the after photo, the drainage system was then covered with fresh concrete to keep the finished room fully protected. 

The owners of this home in Lansing, MI came to Ayers with the complaint that their living room smelled musty, or in their words “like dirty socks.” Clearly not the most pleasant smell to have in your home. The living room was built over a damp crawl space, which was the culprit of the smell.

Block foundation walls allow water in easily, since they’re porous and often times aren’t mortared together completely. They also suck up water from the ground, making the surface of the walls damp.  The water itself isn’t necessarly the problem, it’s when this water evaporates and turns to vapor that’s the issue. Damp, cold air is full of mold spores, and because of the stack effect, the musty, hazardous air moves upstairs.

The stack effect describes how the air flows form the bottom of the home upwards. Therefore, if it’s humid downstairs, it’s likely the humidity is relatively high upstairs as well. In this case, the musty smell, and likely mold spores downstairs were probably upstairs, too.

Encapsulating the space with CleanSpace seals off the home from the earth, keeping the moisture out of the crawl space. This resilient liner is fixed to the walls and virtually indestructible. It’s manufactured with an antimicrobial additive as well, so mold can’t grow on the back of the liner if it gets damp. By sealing of the crawl space, the water vapor is gone, and so is the smell.

Josh had always felt that his basement was unusually colder than the rest of his home, but he thought it was normal. Luckily, he called us for a free quote to see if there was an underlying issue. Our team determined that his basement was so cold because the window was allowing outside air into his basement.

Our team fixed Josh's issue with an Egress Window installation. This was a quick fix for Josh and now his basement is on par with the rest of his home.

This foundation was leaking in some of the corners. The hope was to eventually finish the space but this wouldn't be an option until the water seepage was dealt with. The answer in this wet area of the basement was a WaterGuard perimeter drainage system along the wet areas of the basement. WaterGuard sits right on the the footing of the home and collects water at the base of the wall and directs it to the sump pump for removal from the home. The SuperSump system installed in this home has a 1/3 hp Zoeller pump and also features an airtight lid with floor drain and an alarm that alerts the homeowner if the pump isn't keeping up or fails. This homeowner will no longer need to worry about incoming water puddling in the basement and the space can be finished.