Getting an Alpena, MI Home Out from Underwater

Challenge

Remember all that rain we had in the early spring? Keith does. He called us from Alpena with a finished basement that had gone from occasional, light water seepage to a full-on flooding situation. He had a sump pump in one corner of the rather large basement, but it just wasn’t keeping up, and when he called he had been using a shop vac to remove 24 gallons of water an hour.

That’s no way to live, which is why Keith called on a Thursday night.

Solution

At Ayers, we pride ourselves on working as One Team - making sure every department understands all of the steps necessary to solve a customer’s problem - and this was one case where that philosophy really came into play. Our appointment center manager Amy overnighted Keith a Dry Basement Science book and information about the appointment, and System Design Specialist John went to his home on Saturday and spent the evening with Keith and his wife designing a solution that not only fixed the problem, but met their financial and timeline needs.

Again, this was a big basement - we used over 200 feet of WaterGuard below-floor drain system to secure the perimeter of the basement, and also installed cross tile to create a sort of water superhighway across the varied depths of the basement floor.

Because there were multiple low points in the basement and so much water coming in, we recommended two TripleSafe sump pumps to ensure the basement would remain dry. The TripleSafe is the best sump pump you can get, with three pumps and a battery backup system so it’s never overwhelmed and it’s never offline. It’s quite an upgrade from the one sump pump that already existed in the basement, and by tying the WaterGuard into the sump pump, we guaranteed the water would actually get evacuated.

It’s a huge headache when your basement floods, and even more stressful when that basement is already finished, putting not only your possessions but also finishes you spent money installing at risk. Keith was spending hours a day with a shop vac just trying to keep his head above water - literally. His call to Ayers meant he had his home - and his life - back how it should be.