Basement Waterproofing Photo Album: Sand Lake, MI Crawl Space Malfunction

Cheryl has had her basement and crawl space waterproofed by us before, along with 3 different sump pumps. The alarm on the sump pump in the crawl space to go off and she called us to check it out. Our team determined that this was because the sump pump came apart at the check valve, which is the part of the mechanism that sounds the alarm if there is too much water. When we first came to the scene her discharge lines were frozen and once we got water getting back out our team advised Cheryl to move the discharge lines. She agreed to let our team solve her issue and they planned to come back when everything was thawed. Once our team came back IceGuard and CleanSpace Drainage Matting was installedto help if the lines froze again and if moisture ever escaped back into the crawl space.

Malfunctioning Sump Pump

The sump pumps alarm went off because there was too much water in it and that led to it overflowing. The malfunction came from a broken check valve, which is the part that triggers the alarms when water gets too high.

Standing Water

Since the problem was in the winter, once everything thawed out some moisture began to collect on the drainage matting.

Exposed Vent

The exposed vent is bad because it allows moisture, debris, and sometimes animals into your crawl space. In this case, it allowed for the winter winds to come in the space and freeze the discharge lines.

IceGuard

IceGuard does not prevent the discharge line from freezing, but it has extra holes at the top of it. If the lines were to freeze the holes are a secondary escape for backed up water and they don't allow the water back inside the crawl space.

Discharge Line

The discharge line needed to be moved because it was pumping all water in the front yard of the home, and it made more sense to have it in the back of the home to flow directly towards the lake.

Finished Crawl Space

Once the water and other debris were cleaned this is what Cheryl's crawl space and most others should look like. The drainage matting gives it a clean look.