Leaking Egress Window Waterproofed Before Basement Finishing in Grand Haven, MI

Thursday, March 2nd, 2017 by Brian Bigger

Challenge

Jason H. of Grand Haven was wanting to finish his basement but before he could, he needed to address an egress window that was experiencing leaking underneath it. Often these problems are fixed by injecting a sealant into any cracks, however, this is not a permanent solution in most cases. Dirt in the cracks can prevent the sealant from adhering and performing properly. Also, cracks don't stay the same forever. They can get bigger or move and shift, causing conventional fixes to fail. When finishing his basement, this homeowner wanted a solution that was going to be permanent.

Solution

Leaking from under an egress window was a fairly easy fix. First a urethane-based sealant was injected into the crack. This is a primary solution to the problem, but as discussed earlier, it may not protect at all times. Our fix required a second level of protection in case the first did not work, one that would be permanent. The next step was to dig a drywell in the ground below the crack about 5-10 gallons in size. This is an area that the water can flow down into rather than puddling on the basement floor in the event that it were to make it through the crack. After that, we put a foam strip over the crack followed by a polyurethane sealant on top of that. This solution is called FlexiSpan. The foam creates a channel for incoming water to flow down through between the wall and the seal. Water flows into the drywell and out of the basement. This will prevent any water from building up in the basement and ruining walls, floors, or other parts of the finished basement. FlexiSpan is a permanent solution because even if the crack expands or shifts, the seal is flexible and will continue to hold. The last step is to fill the drywell with stone and replace the concrete above the drywell so that the basement floor is complete.

Jason is now able to finish his basement without any worries that the egress window will cause problems when it rains.