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Everyone dreams of having a beautiful cottage on the lake to escape to every summer. These homeowners loved their vacation home in the quiet town of Otter Lake, Michigan. But on a recent visit, they noticed a musty smell coming from the basement - and they found water pooled on the floor.
They decided to call around get estimates for the repair, but ultimately chose HomeSpec to waterproof the basement. Our experts proposed a WaterGuard Below Floor Drain connected to a TripleSafe sump pump - a powerful system that can pump out over 2,000 gallons of water from the basement every hour.
Since the homeowners don't live in the cottage year-round, we also suggested installing a sump pump alarm. A battery-operated alarm alerts you when water is rising in the sump basin, but the pumps haven't turned on. This allows you to figure out what the problem is, potentially preventing the flooding that would have occurred had you not known the pump was not working properly.
The drainage system was installed around the perimeter of the basement and connected to the sump pump with the alarm. Since the homeowners spend months away from the cottage at a time, they are so relieved that they don't have to worry about their basement while they're away.
This homeowner contacted HomeSpec because he discovered leaking rod holes in his basement wall.
Rod holes are a sneaky, yet quick and easy problem to fix. They were formed when the walls were originally made - steel rods were passed through the concrete to hold the form panels together. This is done to keep the shape and prevent the concrete from bulging. They were then removed, leaving the holes behind.
After our crew sealed them up, you couldn't even tell they were ever there!
A homeowner in Columbiaville, MI purchased their two-story 1900 home with the intention of remodeling. However, before the renovations could begin, the home would first need to be supported. The homeowner knew this to be true because the floors were sagging and sloping. They suspected the home would need support beams and the main beam to be repaired, but they wanted a professional to evaluate the situation and provide an estimate.
Ted, one of HomeSpec’s senior project managers, inspected the home and made a plan to meet the homeowner’s goals. He proposed using 16 SmartJack® supports to not only stabilize the home but also lift where the floors were not level. The homeowner was pleased with this plan and agreed to have HomeSpec install the SmartJack® supports. The crew responsible for this project was led by foreman Jon. The homeowner was happy to know their home was thoroughly supported and that they could move on to the rest of the renovations.
A homeowner in Pontiac, MI was getting sick and tired of cleaning up leaking water all of the time. The water was intruding where the wall meets the floor in their basement. This homeowner was not going to wait for things to get worse and instead called HomeSpec Waterproofing and Foundation Repair for an inspection.
HomeSpec’s Senior Project Manager, Ted, visited the home to provide the inspection. After evaluating the situation, he recommended an interior drainage system, IDS, to capture the water from the basement, a sump pump, and a new sump discharge so the captured water could be pumped out and expelled numerous feet away from the house. To do all of this would require temporarily relocating the clothing washer, dryer, and laundry tub. The homeowner agreed with the proposal and a team was scheduled to return at a later date.
The crew was led by Foreman Jon and Plumber Rick. When they arrived on the scene, it became clear that there was a bit of a problem. This basement had a footer that created a stairstep effect. Because of this, the wall did not meet where the new interior drainage system would be installed in the floor. To solve this problem, the crew used waterproofing material, called Wallie, to capture water from above the footing and lead it into the IDS below. They continued with the remainder of the installation, leaving the basement dry and tidy. The homeowner was very happy with the entire experience and left a five-star review on Google.
These homeowners contacted HomeSpec because their crawl space was very damp and needed to be waterproofed.
Our crew encapsulated the crawl space with our CleanSpace system by completely sealing it off from water and air leaks with a vapor barrier. This improves the air quality of the upstairs and will help the home use about 20% less energy.