Historic Home in Highland Park, IL

U.S. Water­proof­ing was hired to design and install a replace­ment drainage sys­tem for an approx­i­mate­ly 100-year-old house in High­land Park, Illi­nois. The house is on a large lot close to Lake Michi­gan and was in very bad repair. The house exhib­it­ed signs of sig­nif­i­cant leak­ing through and below the brick foun­da­tion walls. The new own­er want­ed to restore the home to its orig­i­nal beau­ty and to put on an addi­tion. The base­ment was to be fin­ished and it had to be dry.

It was agreed that three things had to be addressed:

1. Drainage around the house; there was no func­tion­ing system
2. Hydro­sta­t­ic pres­sure inside the basement
3. Leak­ing through the brick walls

The entire perime­ter of the house was exca­vat­ed down to the foot­ing and the walls cleaned. One coat of bitu­men mod­i­fied polyurethane was trow­el applied to the entire foun­da­tion includ­ing the new con­crete addi­tion. Once this mem­brane was cured, a 4 inch per­fo­rat­ed drain tile with fil­ter fab­ric was placed along­side the foot­ing and embed­ded in washed stone.

A 6 inch PVC unper­fo­rat­ed pipe was placed in the same trench to serve as a storm sew­er for roof drainage. 11 PVC stubs were con­nect­ed to the 6 inch pipe and brought to grade to per­mit the builder to attach new down­spouts lat­er. Also con­nect­ed to the sys­tem was a large catch basin at the rear of the yard in front of the garages. The drain tile and sump pump dis­charges were also con­nect­ed to the 6 inch pipe. The 6 inch pipe was brought to an exist­ing large catch basin near the street which emp­tied into the munic­i­pal storm sew­er. The 6 inch sys­tem totaled 330 feet in length.

Pri­or to back­fill­ing, Ther­maDrain® Insu­lat­ed Drainage Board was attached to the walls. This is a mul­ti-func­tion prod­uct: Plas­tic drainage board pro­vides a clear path for ground water to reach the drain tile, there­by elim­i­nat­ing hydro­sta­t­ic pres­sure on the foun­da­tion walls. Fil­ter fab­ric pre­vents silt and sand from clog­ging the sys­tem. It pro­tects the mem­brane dur­ing the back­fill and the lam­i­nat­ed Dow Sty­ro­foam™ pro­vides excel­lent ther­mal insulation.

An inte­ri­or drain tile sys­tem was installed below the base­ment floor to relieve hydro­sta­t­ic pres­sure. A 4” per­fo­rat­ed plas­tic drain tile was embed­ded in washed stone along­side the inside of the foot­ing. The drain tile was con­nect­ed to two new sump basins. Once the work was com­plet­ed, the con­trac­tor poured a com­plete new con­crete floor slab. High capac­i­ty sump pumps were installed in the new basins and con­nect­ed to the exte­ri­or storm drain line.

The desired results were achieved. The home­own­er was assured of a dry base­ment suit­able for any use and lot drainage was no longer a problem.