Fixing Wet Basement for Grant, MI, Retirees
Challenge
Mike was tired of constant water in his home’s basement. It started with a flooded yard and water intruding into the walkout. Similar flooding occurred a second and third time, and then the water started leaking into other parts of the basement.
Mike wanted these water problems permanently repaired so he and his wife could enjoy peace of mind during their retirement. A friend told them about Ayers and the couple felt confident the team here would provide them an outstanding contractor experience.
Our design specialist met with Mike, inspected the home, and determined the water was now coming in behind a finished wall in the basement bathroom. An exterior inspection of the property confirmed there was excessive groundwater in the soil surrounding the house. All that water had to go somewhere, and Mother Nature chose the path of least resistance, down through the home’s foundation.
Solution
Making Mike’s below-ground living area retirement-ready was a big project, and he was relieved it could be broken into manageable steps.
The priority was to keep the water out, which was accomplished by installing our patented WaterGuard system under the floor around the interior perimeter of the basement. WaterGuard is unique because it sits on top of the home’s footing and doesn’t rely on filter fabric to prevent clogging from mud. It also has a 3/8-inch gap between the floor and the wall to drain wall leaks.
The water collected in the WaterGuard was channeled to Mike’s new TripleSafe, a three-pump system that uses powerful cast-iron Zoeller sump pumps – one to handle most of the water, a second pump to provide excess capacity, and a third battery-powered pump in case the power goes out. All three pumps are housed in a two-foot-deep liner with an airtight lid and our battery-powered WaterWatch alarm to alert Mike if the system ever stops working.
The next phase of the project was to protect the basement walls from further cracking due to the pressure exerted by groundwater in the soil outside. The solution was to install our exclusive CarbonArmor. These fabric-like straps use carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs), a type of carbon fiber with 10 times the tensile strength of steel, to stabilize the walls. Our crew adhered the straps to the concrete with a special two-part epoxy that penetrated the surface of the concrete to ensure a permanent bond.
Once their home’s basement was dry and stable, the customers decided to proceed with finishing the space. Mike was concerned about keeping the area warm and wanted to use non-organic materials that would resist mold and mildew growth. Ayers’ revolutionary Basement to Beautiful panels were the ideal choice. Our crew fastened the custom-engineered foam panels with integrated studs directly to the foundation walls. At 2.5 inches thick and with an R-value of 13, the panels created a warm, protective blanket around the couple’s basement. The crew also added spray foam insulation around the rim joist. Mike was ready to begin remodeling.
The following year, when an Ayers technician came out for annual maintenance on the home’s waterproofing system, Mike reported that even though the humidity in the basement was low, his old dehumidifier was turning on every few minutes. Keeping humidity in check was critical to Mike’s health, so he decided to invest in our top-of-the-line Sanidry Sedona dehumidifier. The Sanidry Sedona includes air filtration to remove particles less than two microns in size – smaller than any mold spore or other allergen. It’s also Energy Star-rated and, since it automatically drains into the WaterGuard system, Mike will never need to empty it.
Mike and his wife are extremely satisfied with the repairs and improvements to their basement. They can spend their golden years enjoying the extra space and, even if they go south for the winter, they never need to worry about coming home to a wet, smelly mess.
