Problem Signs
Whether it’s through plumbing leaks, wall cracks, or poor drainage, standing water in your basement always is bad news.
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Basement Flooding
A basement flood can lead to extensive damage to finishing materials and stored items. Today’s small leak can lead to serious flooding in the future — don’t wait to fix your wet basement!
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Flooded Stairs
Leaking hatchway doors are a nuisance for homeowners who’d like their basement to be dry — especially in a finished basement.
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Leaky Windows
Water will find its way into your basement in any way it can. Even if you seal off your concrete walls and install a perimeter drain, leaks can still occur through a variety of possible ways.
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Basement Cracked & Leaking Walls
Leaking water from basement walls is an alarming sign for homeowners, and can be the result of more damage that the eye can see.
Causes
Here are some ways soil can affect water intrusion and your home.
As the construction of your home began, a large hole in the ground had to be made to accommodate the house and its foundation. After the foundation was built, there still was a gap around the house between the structure and rest of the earth. Some of the previously excavated soil is replaced or “backfilled” around the walls. This soil is looser and fluffier than the rest of the hard-packed, untouched soil. This allows water to collect in the soil immediately surrounding the house and create a “clay bowl,” as well as put pressure on the walls and lead to cracks and leaking water.
This constant force exerted on the walls by saturated soil is known as hydrostatic pressure. When this force becomes too much for the walls to handle, they will begin to show signs of failure in the form of cracks and inward movement. Water can easily find its way in through any cracks and openings, and your home’s structural stability is at risk.
A footing drain was installed outside the foundation walls of your home during its construction in order to help keep water away. But this drain can easily clog and allow water to collect by the walls. Preventing this is difficult, and so is cleaning and flushing the drains.
Clogged or above-ground exterior drainage pipes could allow water to puddle next to the home and find its way inside any crack or gap in the foundation walls. It’s a good idea to place these lines in the ground and direct them far away from your house to prevent draining water from leaking inside. But you also need to make sure these lines are doing their job. If they crack, collapse, or clog, you could end up with water in your basement.
Sump pumps are needed to keep water out of the basement. Many sump pump systems are installed with metal basins placed in the floor and have lids that rest on top of the basin and openings for the discharge pipes. Some may not have lids at all. These are ineffective systems that will only cause more problems. Metal basins can easily rust and corrode, and partial or nonexistent lids allow water to evaporate back into or flood the basement. This leads to unpleasant odors and moisture issues that defeat the purpose of the sump pump in the first place. Debris and other items also can easily fall into the system and damage the pump if the sump pit is not completely covered.
Mother Nature can be unpredictable and brutal, and Indiana experiences its share of wild weather. Heavy rainstorms can dump a lot of water on the ground with nowhere to go, and wintertime snow melt results in runoff water. This water can then find its way inside through saturated soil and wall cracks.
Solutions
Whether or not you are regularly in your basement, it’s important for the part of your home to be healthy and safe. There are many reasons why you should address the issues in your basement.
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BasementGutter™ Below-Floor French Drain
A Subtle, Below-Floor Drain System That Includes A Lifetime Written Warranty!
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SafeDri™ Sump Pump Systems
Indiana Foundation Service has been using SafeDri™ pumps all over Indiana, and they’ve proven their value time and again.
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Basement Wall Vapor Barrier
Preventing leaks and mold growth is essential for any basement. Given the naturally damp environment of a basement, installing a vapor barrier on a wall is essential for protecting the room.
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Interior Basement Drainage
The best way to keep your basement dry all the time is to install a drainage system along the inside perimeter of your basement floor.
FAQs
Whether it’s through plumbing leaks, wall cracks, or poor drainage, standing water in your basement always is bad news.
There are several reasons why your home has these issues, and many of them stem from one common source – the ground your home was built on. The soil, as well as the health of that soil, plays a big part in your home’s condition and structural stability.
There are various soil types across Indiana, but three main ingredients make up a soil type and its texture – sand, silt, and clay, as well as any combination of the three. Indiana has all three of these soil ingredients and is particularly rich in clay soil. Indiana also has a state soil called Miami, which is made up of silt loam and clay loam. Sandy soils tend to drain water faster, silt has more intermediate drainage properties, and clay is more likely to hold onto water and expand and contract as it becomes saturated and dries out.
Even before reading about typical basement problems and their causes, you probably wondered why you should bother fixing this area of your home. Whether or not you are regularly in your basement, it’s important for the part of your home to be healthy and safe. There are many reasons why you should address the issues in your basement, and here are just a few benefits of doing so:
- Improved Health and Quality of Life – More than half the air you are breathing in your home comes from areas like the basement underneath your main living space. That means whatever is in your basement also is in the air moving through the rest of the house and affecting you. Mold loves damp, dark places, so you could have this toxic growth in your basement. Mold growth can lead to and worsen health conditions like asthma and allergies. Keep your family from getting sick by eliminating possible water intrusion and mold growth. Choosing a reliable dehumidifier also will help keep moisture and humidity in check and help improve the overall air quality in your home.
- Protected Structural Stability – Water could be finding its way inside through wall cracks and gaps, which also means the safety of the structure could be at risk. When the water has nowhere to go, it will build up inside the walls. This, coupled with hydrostatic pressure, results in an unsafe mess for your foundation walls and basement floor. Don’t subject your loved ones to an environment that could cave in at any moment. When your basement is properly waterproofed, you also are protecting the foundation holding up the rest of the house and ensuring a longer lifetime for your home.
- Improved Energy Efficiency – Below-grade areas like basements naturally are cooler and damp, and leaking basements will experience even more of a drop in temperature. This will cause HVAC units to run more often to keep the living area warmer in winter and cooler in summer, which, of course, leads to higher energy bills. Stop wasting money on heating and cooling bills by instead investing in reliable waterproofing solutions that will save your home and your wallet in the long run.
- Increased Real Estate Value – If you have a wet basement, this affects the value of and ability to sell your home. While different factors play into your home’s appraisal value, it’s important to be aware of any water problems. As an Indiana homeowner, you must fill out the Seller’s Residential Real Estate Sales Disclosure form to the best of your ability. Some items on the checklist that you need to disclose include any known past or current issues with water and moisture in the basement or crawl space, and flood damage. Instead of having these problems come up when trying to close, why not take proper steps to waterproofing and protect your home? This shows the buyers that you care about the home and its safety.
By now, you’re probably eager to kick those basement problems to the curb. Before you run out to your neighborhood hardware store, hear us out. Basement waterproofing and repair is serious work that best left to professional contractors.
There’s nothing to stop you from applying paint or sealant on your basement walls, but these are in no way permanent solutions that will properly address the problem. These are cheap, quick fixes that will end up popping and flaking, and this indicates there’s a lingering moisture problem. Water also follows the path of least resistance, so even if you “seal” off one leakage point, it’s going to find another way in.
Why not fix the problem the right way the first time? Trusted solutions from a reliable contractor are the best way to go.
You’ve probably heard horror stories from friends and family about their experiences with contractors who didn’t finish the jobs or installed shoddy products. So, it’s understandable that you’d feel wary of working with a contractor yourself. But don’t let that completely influence your decision.
Before hiring a contractor, make sure you do your homework and are comfortable with who you bring into your home. Ask more about the company; look at reviews; references; proof of insurance, licenses, and other certifications; a written contract; and examples of completed work.
Still not sure what to expect? Rest assured, you and your family will be in good hands with us every single step of the way. We have highly trained, professional teammates whose No. 1 priority is you. Your safety and satisfaction with the job is what matters most to us, not trying to make a sale.
Contact us today to schedule your free inspection and estimate with one of our expert inspectors! During the appointment, our inspector will thoroughly evaluate your home and recommend the best solutions tailored to address your specific basement problems. He also will discuss your budget and financing options.
When you decide to have us complete a repair project, we will schedule the work with one of our experienced installation crews. The crew will treat your home with the utmost care and respect as they install the best solutions proven to protect your home. If something comes up during the process, there’s no need to worry. Our team works until the job is done right and you are 100% satisfied. We also offer service and maintenance opportunities to ensure the systems we installed continue to operate at a high level to protect your home.
In our commitment to you, your safety, and your family’s well-being, we install only the best solutions that will effectively and permanently work to keep your basement and home dry and healthy. Our United States-manufactured wet basement repair products carry longtime warranties, and they are made to work together in protecting your home the way it deserves to be protected.
Here is what we’ll use to fix your basement problems, and why they work. Our inspectors will work with you to help you design the best solutions customized to meet your specific repair needs.
- Interior Perimeter Drainage System – The best method of basement waterproofing involves interior drainage. Our BasementGutter™ perimeter drainage system is specially designed to sit in the basement’s sub-floor and out of the “mud zone” to collect seeping water from the walls and floor. This water is then directed to a sump pump system.
- Grated Drain Pipe – Grated drainage pipes are installed in a similar way in the floor in front of doorways, stairways, or entryways. These systems also are easy to connect to the rest of the BasementGutter™ system.
- Sump Pumps – Once the water is intercepted, it needs somewhere else to go other than your basement floor. Our sump pump systems will direct this water to a sump pump so it can be safely and effectively pumped out of your basement and away from your home. We have several sump pump system variations to meet your needs – SafeDri™ Pro X Premier Sump Pump System, SafeDri™ Battery Backup System, SafeDri™ TripleSump™ Pump System, and SafeDri™ Pro Crawl Space Sump Pump System.
- Dehumidifier – Part of keeping your home dry and healthy is conditioning the air and removing moisture. We have a dehumidifier unit that is powerful but energy-efficient that will clean and filter the air, control moisture and humidity, and reduce odors and the potential for mold growth. Unlike conventional dehumidifiers, this unit is self-draining and can be directed to your perimeter drainage or sump pump system, so there are no buckets to have to empty.
- Crack Repairs – We can seal and repair any wall cracks to prevent water intrusion. Our foundation repair solutions may also be needed for significant cracking and wall movement.
- Exterior Discharge Line Freeze Prevention – The FreezeGuard™ outlet can be attached to the exterior sump pump discharge line to prevent water flowing back into or flooding your basement if the line should freeze or become blocked for any reason.
We’ve saved the best concern for last. This is one of the most-asked questions we hear from homeowners. And rightly so. Your home is a significant investment, and you want to make sure you’re using the best, cost-effective solutions to protect it.
On average, homeowners can expect to spend approximately $4,000 on basement waterproofing, with different projects typically ranging anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000. The return on investment from basement waterproofing is estimated to be around 30 percent. But when you think about it, the health and structural and safety benefits, not to mention peace of mind, are priceless.
Every home is different, and each project calls for different solutions. We can customize solutions specific to your repair needs. It’s not fair to give you even a ballpark estimate for repair right off the bat. That’s why it’s so important to physically observe what’s in your home. Our inspectors need to visit your house to get a better idea of what they are dealing with. Your inspector will take into consideration your repair goals, the severity of damage or problem areas, square footage, and your budget. It’s not just a “one size fits all” fix. So, what may have worked for a friend or neighbor might not necessarily be what your home needs.
Contacting us for an expert opinion is your best bet. We will not try to throw bandages or cheap, quick fixes on the problems, or push you to buy all our solutions just to make a sale. We genuinely care about you and your family’s health and safety.
What’s holding you back from a project that will protect your home and your family? Be proactive and let the experts at Indiana Foundation Service give you a hand! We are excited to help you create a safer and healthier living environment!
