Fruitport, MI Local Concrete Leveling & Crawl Space Repair

This customer had a lot of water entering her home every spring at the north corner of her basement. The sump pump was located on the opposite side of the basement so she had to sweep the water to get rid of it. There was major standing water and the homeowner was looking for an effective solution that would collect and discard intruding water.

We installed the WaterGuard system, which involved the installation of drainage pipes around the interior perimeter of the basement. The pipes were installed on top of the footing, underneath the flooring. Water entering the basement drains down into the pipes and is carried to the sump pump to be discarded from the home. An inspection port was also installed to give us access to the system if ever needed.

This customer had a lot of water entering the north corner of her basement each spring. The sump pump was on the opposite side of the basement, so she had to sweep the water to get rid of it. She was looking for an effective solution that would collect and remove intruding water in her home.

We installed the WaterGuard system in the basement to collect water entering the home through the walls. Specialized drainage pipes were installed around the interior perimeter of the basement, at the base of each wall. The system was placed on top of the footing to prevent the pipes from getting clogged with dirt and installed a few inches away from the wall to give incoming water room to enter. Water that entered the WaterGuard system was immediately directed to the sump pump to be discarded from the home.

Jim T. called because his basement wall had a 25ft horizontal crack that was ¼ inch thick and he was looking for a reliable solution to permanently fix the problem. The wall was bowing inward and the crack was above the center of the wall.

Our team of experts assessed the situation and decided to install the CarbonArmor system to stabilize the failing wall. CarbonArmor uses extremely strong strips that are made of fiber reinforced polymers to hold cracked or bowing walls and have the potential to pull them back to their original position. To start this project we coated sections of the wall with strong apoxy resin that the straps would adhere to. The straps were then attached to the wall and fastened with steel brackets. After the installation, the wall was completely stabilized with minimal disruption to the home.

When Neil and Judy noticed large stair step cracks in their home, they became concerned about the homes foundation. The basement had been added in years after the home was built, so the stability was already in question. The severity was so bad that three of the four cinder block walls were bowing inward and would need repairs. Our system design specialist took a trip to Fruitport Charter Township, MI to determine what could be done for them.

The crew used two of our more technologically advanced wall repair systems to save these bowed walls: The PowerBrace System and the CarbonArmor Wall Reinforcing System. The PowerBrace System uses steel I-beams that span the height of the basement walls to resist the inward pressure of the expanding soil. Using a unique tightening brace that attaches the beams to the floor joists, the beams can be adjusted to push the walls back towards their original positions. PowerBrace beams were used on all three of the bowing walls and CarbonArmor strips were used on just one. The CarbonArmor system the crew put into Neil and Judy’s basement uses the same technology that reinforces skyscrapers and bridges. Once the CarbonArmor strips were covered with a high strength resin, the strips were then attached to the wall and secured with brackets. Together, both systems will stabilize Neil and Judy’s walls from bowing any further.