ASHWORTH DRAINAGE BLOG
One of our favorite TV shows that is currently making its rounds is “Holmes on Homes”, a show where one of the most respected professional contractors and inspectors visits the homes of people who’ve been visited by bad contractors, or who have a home that isn’t safe or doesn’t suit their needs. He takes a look at the situation at hand, and not only presents a solution, but also has a team of workers to assist in the project to get it done right. It’s due to our admiration and respect for this knowledgeable man that we decided to present his suggestions on how to keep your basements dry.
Basement parging is often seen as an added decoration that completes the look of a home’s exterior. While decorative parging can indeed lift any drabby-looking home, old or new, this practice adds an extra layer of protection for your home’s foundation. However, a lot of homeowners misunderstand just what parging is and why it’s important for keeping your interior dry!
Believe it or not, there are “types” of cracks that can form in your foundation. The different stresses on the basement wall materials can cause cracks to form in specific ways. Cracks caused by wall settling and shrinkage, and cracks in the basement floor, are all caused by different issues, and their treatment can depend on what they mean. Knowing what the cracks look like can lead us to the root of the problem and manage the cost to repair house foundation.
Basements aren’t exactly new innovations, but the technologies that work to keep your basement dry have been getting seriously advanced. The past few decades of creative thinking have made keeping moisture and water out of your basement a lot easier, letting more and more homeowners use their lower levels as new spaces to live in and enjoy.
While some tried-and-true drainage technologies have been around since livable basements became a thing – weeping tiles and French drains were popularized in the mid-19th century – the industry is always improving itself. If your basement needs an upgrade in the protection department, here are some of the newest technologies and tactics for basement waterproofing!
Water in your crawl space is a pain to get rid of, but you shouldn’t sit on it, even if it’s only a tiny bit of moisture. While finding crawl space solutions might seem like a lot of work, the problems will only get worse if any amount of water is allowed to fester. Soggy insulation and mold are just the beginning – infestations, weak foundation walls, and more await a drainage issue that isn’t resolved quickly. Here’s how you can get rid of that water and make sure it stays out!
A sump pump is a valuable tool for all homeowners but how do you know you should have one? There can be a range of questions when it comes to sump pumps! Check below to know if you should have one.
It’s every homeowner’s nightmare: waking up to a new indoor pool in the lowest level of the house. But instead of swimming and enjoying it, the unlucky homeowner has to spend a ton of time getting rid of the water before it causes lasting damage. If your basement floods and all your personal belongings are down there, or – God forbid – the basement is finished, then there are many bigger problems to worry about.
So what do you do if this happens to you? Other than staying calm and carrying on, you have to get down to business and clean out that basement flooding. But you also have to do it safely! (more…)
Have you ever put some thought into property grading? Do you know how your home property is “graded”? You might be inclined to give the land around your foundation an A+, but you can learn it’s actually an F when it starts to rain. If your property isn’t graded properly, the moisture will flow towards your foundation, causing all kinds of problems. Luckily, you can figure out whether or not grading will be a problem in the future, and can even take matters into your own hands!
Your home septic system is one of the hardest working and most resilient parts of your home. But it’s also not immune to aging and wear over years of regular use.
Think of it as a filter separating solids and treating wastewater before it travels from your home for final disinfection. Your not the only one who relies on a working septic system. The greater neighborhood and community can be affected too!
Do it yourself flooding prevention, for most of us, is a passing, comedic idea because of the potential danger it involves. All jokes aside, we’ve all probably seen some neighbours doing backyard trench sculpting or DIY landscaping at one time or another.
DIY flooding prevention is certainly a case where you don’t want to catch up with the Joneses. And Ashworth Drainage absolutely advises against such an activity. But we can definitely entertain the notion of how a home project like this would go.