3 Methods of Wet Basement Waterproofing in Merrillville IN 46410
Merrillville IN is a town with two personalities – it is both a bedroom suburb and a major commercial center, often referred to as the “Main Street of Northwest Indiana.”
Indeed, the U.S. Route 30 corridor in Merrillville is home to numerous big-box retailers, restaurants and car dealerships. The Star Plaza complex that includes a hotel, live entertainment venue and a number of bars and restaurants also draws traffic to Merrillville from all over the region.
Today’s Merrillville was a collection of settlements in Lake County before it was incorporated in 1971. At the time, there were more than 6,000 homes in Merrillville, with more than 1,000 dating back to before World War II. Today, Merrillville’s 35,000 residents live in more than 12,000 homes, giving the town’s housing stock an even balance between newer and older homes.
Whether a Merrillville home is older or newer, homeowners there still have to face maintenance and repair issues and many of them have found themselves in need of wet basement waterproofing.
3 Methods of Wet Basement Waterproofing in Merrillville
Regardless of the cause of the wet basement or the recommended repair, homes in Merrillville, just like homes in nearby Schererville and Griffith, are individually evaluated and diagnosed. There are, however, 3 commonly used methods of wet basement waterproofing that will solve almost every problem.
1. Exterior Waterproofing – Concrete block foundations are common in northwest Indiana and they can seep water through deteriorated mortar joints or porous blocks. Poured concrete foundations can admit water through porous patches of concrete or over the top of the foundation wall. Either problem can be corrected by installing an exterior waterproofing membrane, a thick coating of asphalt-modified polyurethane applied with a trowel to the exterior foundation wall to create a permanent water barrier.
When ground water is particularly high, exterior drain tile can be added along with heavy-duty drainage board that protects the membrane and channels water down to the drain tile.
2. Interior Drain Tile – Any foundation can seep water through the cove joint or through cracks in the basement floor due to hydrostatic pressure under the foundation. This pressure can be eased and the seepage eliminated by installing interior drain tile, a system of perforated pipe buried in a bed of washed stone under the basement floor. The pipe carries the water to a sump pump for disposal.
Properly installed, interior drain tile requires no maintenance.
3. Crack Repair – One of the most common sources of a wet basement in a poured concrete foundation is a non-structural crack in a foundation wall. These cracks are best repaired by injecting them with expanding polyurethane that fills and seals the crack all the way to the outside soil. The polyurethane material remains flexible when it cures to prevent the crack from re-opening due to minor foundation movement.
If the crack cannot be reached from inside, it can be repaired on the exterior of the foundation with sodium bentonite clay. A small hole is dug next to the foundation down to the footings and filled with the granular clay. The clay absorbs water and becomes a pliable but permanent water seal on the “positive side” of the foundation.
No matter what the problem or the solution, a Merrillville homeowner in need of wet basement waterproofing will require the advice and services of an experienced basement waterproofing contractor. At U.S. Waterproofing, we’ve been helping homeowners with wet basement waterproofing services, keeping basements dry all over Chicago and northwest Indiana since 1957. Why not ask for our free advice?