Sealing and Insulating Problematic Muskegon, MI Basement
Challenge
Living in an area with a high water table makes your home susceptible to water intrusion and hydrostatic pressure. Water weighs a little over 60 lbs/cubic foot and will exert an enormous amount of pressure on your basement walls. This can lead to your walls cracking, bowing or eventually collapsing if you do not get a professional company like ours to intervene. You also run the risk of water entering your basement through your porous walls. When you add man-made foundation cracks to this scenario, waterproofing a basement seems impossible.
This is the predicament Vicki and Daniel faced when they contacted us. It was a chore to keep their Muskegon basement dry even with two (ineffective) sump pumps. The home’s basement floor had several cracks in the aftermath of a nearby chemical explosion which allowed water to seep in through several entry points. The family’s neighbors understood their predicament and not one but two neighbors highly recommended Ayers after successful installations at both homes.
By the time our team arrived, the family had about 5 gallons of water seeping into their home daily. Our first priority was to stop the water from entering the basement.
Solution
Our system design specialist did a full inspection of the basement and noted far more floor cracks than originally anticipated. The impact of the chemical plant explosion was a compromised floor that needed to be waterproofed.
We installed our powerful TripleSafe™ Sump Pump System. True to its reassuring name, this sump pump is literally three pumps in one casing and perfect for homes with ongoing water issues in the basement. We then dug underground to install our below-floor drain system which channels water collected from leaks through the walls and in this case, those cracks in the floor, to the TripleSafe™ sump pump mentioned earlier. This is a much more effective method to capture and transport water to the sump pump rather than relying on the gradient of the floor to guide water to your pump.
Specially designed piping called WaterGuard® was then installed along the perimeter of the basement on top of the footing of the foundation. Since the piping sits on top, and not along the footing like other drainage systems, WaterGuard® can’t get clogged with mud, ensuring that all water can effectively be collected and rerouted. In fact, the WaterGuard® system transports all water under ground with no water ever running across your basement floor. The sump pump accepts the water from the WaterGuard® system and its airtight lid prevents water from evaporating into the basement.
The family also made the wise choice to install our CleanSpace® wall system that stops water vapor from entering the space and drains any water leaks from the wall into the drainage system. CleanSpace® is a thick, durable white plastic liner that worked well for this home that had uneven basement walls.
Project Summary
Foreman: Blade
Salesman: Bryce
