How to Seal a Wet Basement in Naperville, IL 60540
Naperville, IL is, in many ways, the perfect suburb. Located on the banks of the DuPage River in both Will and DuPage counties, the city is close enough to Chicago to serve as a bedroom community for commuters yet far enough away to establish its own identity. Formerly a small farming community, Naperville has grown to become the 5th largest city in Illinois with a population of more than 140,000.
Unlike many of the suburbs in the Chicago area, Naperville’s growth did not arise out of the postwar housing boom that established suburbia across most of the United States. First incorporated in 1857, Naperville grew slowly and boasted of fewer than 7,000 homes by 1970 when the national building boom leveled off. It was in the 1980’s and 90’s when the Chicago suburban sprawl expanded westward that Naperville really took off, adding 28,000 homes during those two decades; the city has more than 45,000 today.
Even though the majority of homes in Naperville are newer, homeowners there still face maintenance issues such as needing to seal a wet basement.
Sealing a Wet Basement in Naperville
There are a number of ways that basement waterproofing professionals can seal a wet basement in Naperville. Of course, a specific plan of repair depends on the individual home and its sources of seepage but there are three ways in which it is commonly done.
Crack Repair – Given that the “average” home in Naperville was built in the mid-1970’s, the most prevalent type of foundation there is one constructed of poured concrete. The most common source of seepage in these foundations is a non-structural crack caused by settlement or pressure from over-saturated soil. When these cracks result in seepage in the basement they can be permanently repaired by injecting them with expanding polyurethane from the interior. The polyurethane expands to fill and seal the crack all the way to the outside soil and remains flexible when it cures so that minor foundation movement will not cause the crack to open up again.
If the basement is finished or the crack is otherwise inaccessible, it can be repaired from the outside. The contractor digs a small hole next to the foundation at the site of the crack and fills it with sodium bentonite clay. The sodium bentonite takes on water from the soil and forms a permanent, pliable barrier against water intrusion.
Exterior Waterproofing – Water can also enter a basement through porous concrete or masonry, bad mortar joints or over the top of the foundation wall. The best remedy for this type of seepage is an exterior waterproofing membrane, a thick coating of asphalt-modified polyurethane that is troweled onto the foundation wall on the outside to form an impermeable barrier. The waterproofing membrane should not be confused with the watery spray coating known as “damp-proofing.”
If there is an extreme amount of ground water present, the membrane can be supplemented with exterior drain tile and covered with drainage board to channel the water downward.
Interior Drain Tile – One of the most versatile ways to seal a basement, interior drain tile stops seepage through the cove joint and cracks in the basement floor. A system of perforated pipe installed in a bed of washed gravel level with foundation footings under the basement floor, interior drain tile relieves the hydrostatic pressure under the foundation by draining away ground water to a sump pump that ejects it from the house. Properly installed, interior drain tile requires no maintenance.
If you’re a Naperville home owner who needs to seal his or her basement, chances are that one or more of these methods will work for you – if done by an experienced basement waterproofing contractor that knows Naperville homes. At U.S. Waterproofing, we have served hundreds of Naperville homeowners by helping them seal their basements and keeping them dry – permanently. Why not ask for our free advice?