Foundation Waterproofing - What You Need to Know

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Foundation Waterproofing - What You Need to Know
Recently we received a call from a possible consumer that had water in her basement. She found our company through a search on the Internet and mentioned our approach to waterproofing foundations appeared like more of an irreversible solution than some of our competitors which offered foundation waterproofing solutions working from the in, something that actually is more of a temporary fix and it prompted me to write this post to describe the correct approach to waterproofing your foundation.

As a house owner, your greatest investment is probably your residence, but not only is it an investment, it is your home or apartment, a place where you keep your family safe, secure, and warm and too often we stumble upon home or apartments that have moisture or water in their crawlspace or basement, this can cause all sorts of issues from damage to health concerns connected to mold.

Thankfully, there are irreversible solutions to waterproofing your foundation. There is a saying "if your drainage is a mess, call us". This is actually where all of it starts, your drainage. Since we are based in the soggy and water saturated area of Seattle and the Greater Puget Audio we have seen these concerns show up many times, even after another waterproofing contractor has completed their supposed fixes working from the in, but we know the problems originate from the outside.

It's just like the analogy of a doctor offering you medicine to hide a problem, rather than detect what the problem is, and typically our diagnosis results in resolving the drainage concern, rather than offering temporary fixes to hide the problem.

Here is typically what your solution should require for waterproofing your home or apartment and foundation. A residence that is built on a foundation should always have what is called footing drains that may or may not be tied into your gutter system drains surrounding the border of your residence. If you have water in your basement, it is oftentimes because of failed footing drains if there are any footing drains, so what is needed to be done is to first excavate around the border of your foundation.

At this point it is important to excavate to the base of the foundation and put a waterproofing membrane around the entire foundation, it is important to note, that some contractors may put an alternative material, one that does not develop a true waterproofing membrane. After the membrane is applied, it is time to install your new footing drains making use of perforated pipe, you can ask your local supplier for in-depth guidelines. Make sure all your footing drains are sloped in the direction to your discharge point away from your house, possibly even to a drywell.

You have now completed a two part waterproofing system for your residence and at this point water should not be penetrating your residence, but you are not quite finished. You still need to buy and fill trench with drain rock, cover with filter fabric, and backfill before you are totally finished.

I understand visualizing the process can be complicated, specifically if you have decks, patio areas, driveways, landscaping, etc. around your foundation, that's why it is best to always make use of a qualified waterproofing contractor in your area. Just make sure they make use of an approach much like the solutions we advised in this post, one that offers an irreversible solution with a 100 % lifetime warranty.