Waterproof Before Finishing - Anacortes, WA
Challenge
This homes basement had been finished years ago. But it was never waterproofed. Water ended up flooding the space. The homeowners removed the old drywall, flooring, and ended up leaving only the framing. The idea of waterproofing the space and trying again was difficult. They had finished and were worried that if they tried again, there would be no real solution. Over the years the space would keep flooding, the framing succumbing to water damage, and the homeowners just wrote the space off as unusable. After leaving it for so long, they were ready to at least listen to options to see what could be done. Since John's Waterproofing provides free quotes, they figured an inspection couldn't hurt.
Solution
To begin we sat with the homeowner to discuss options. They were still hesitant so we crafted a repair plan to make the space usable, not finished. We would begin by removing the old framing, and called in a foundation expert to replace the homes structural beams. We then dug a trench around the interior perimeter of the basement. Here we laid in a bed of gravel with our WaterGuard drain system. This safely allows water to travel to the lowest point where a TripleSafe will then pump the water away from the homes foundation. Since they were nervous about finishing the space we installed our BrightWall paneling which provides a semi-finished look for the space that will not rot or mold, and just safely guides water down the walls to the WaterGuard. We then installed a SaniDry dehumidifier. The homeowner would then need to call a carpenter to redo the stairs to make them safe again. The homeowner is still nervous, so they plan to slowly start putting storage items in the basement, but they are excited to see how utilizing their basement will add so much extra space.
