Ayers Basement Systems Before & After Photos

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.

We had completed a WaterGuard installation for homeowners in Lansing, MI, but the basement still felt like it was missing something: a wall upgrade. Over time, painted basement walls can chip or peel and give a basement a dark and dingy look. Not exactly welcoming. We suggested BrightWall, basement wall panels that easily install to current basement walls to brighten up the space and give it a more clean look. BrightWall panels are also waterproof, mold-resistant, and energy efficient. This after picture really shows the difference clean walls can make! 

This homeowner had been dealing with water seeping in for several years. It was entering in such large amounts that even when we did our inspection, one whole area of the basement was just a large puddle under the egress window. The owner was tired of dealing with the mess and wanted to know what could be done to stop it. Our production team came out a few short weeks later to install his new WaterGuard drainage system. This system requires the excavation of concrete along the perimeter walls to expose the home's footing. The drain system is put in place and the excavated area is leveled off with stone before replacing the concrete. This system captures the water along the base of the wall and diverts it to a sump pump for removal from the home. In this system, where a large amount of water was flowing through it, we installed several 4" pvc access ports. These ports allow us entry into the system to service and clean it out. This would be especially helpful in an area where iron ochre was present and had a tendency to muck up the drain over time. The finished walls that were cut out at the bottom for installation can now have the framing repaired and new drywall screwed in place. This former puddle should now stay dry, no matter the weather outside.