3 Ways to Do Wet Basement Waterproofing in Elk Grove Village IL 60007
To answer the question that comes to mind for all Chicagoans whenever the name of this northwest suburb is mentioned, yes, there are elk in Elk Grove Village. A small herd has been maintained for years in the corner of Busse Woods, one of the features of the Ned Brown Forest Preserve. A rather hazy history indicates that the predecessors of today’s elk were brought from Montana by a member of the Busse family in the 1920’s.
The woods and Busse Lake were named after former Cook County Commissioner William Busse, a descendant of some of the earliest German settlers in the area.
Modern Elk Grove Village is also home to the country’s largest industrial park and the operations center of United Airlines, both of which sprung from the village’s proximity to Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Along with industry (and the elk) Elk Grove Village is also a thriving residential community that has grown substantially from the small rural farming community it was as late as World War II. Today’s Elk Grove Village has a population of more than 33,000 and more than 13,000 homes, more than half of which were built prior to 1980.
Owners of these homes, just as in nearby Des Plaines and Schaumburg, are facing maintenance and repair issues as their homes age and many of them are in need of wet basement waterproofing.
3 Ways to Do Wet Basement Waterproofing in Elk Grove Village
Of course, each home in need of repair is individually evaluated and diagnosed, but there are 3 commonly used methods that will solve most basement water problems in Elk Grove Village.
1. Crack Repair – The most common foundation in the Chicago area is one of poured concrete and the most common source of seepage in this type of foundation is a non-structural crack in the foundation wall. Injecting these cracks with expanding polyurethane repairs them permanently, as the polyurethane expands to fill and seal the crack all the way to the outside soil. It remains flexible when cured to prevent the crack re-opening from minor foundation movement.
If the crack can’t be accessed on the inside it can be repaired on the exterior with sodium bentonite clay. A small hole is dug down to the footing at the site of the crack and filled with the clay, which forms a pliable, permanent barrier against water.
2. Interior Drain Tile – Another common source of seepage is water that is forced by hydrostatic pressure through cracks in the basement floor and the cove joint. Installing interior drain tile, perforated pipe buried in washed stone under the basement floor, will alleviate this pressure and carry the water off to a sump pump for discharge. Properly installed, interior drain tile requires no maintenance.
3. Exterior Waterproofing – A poured concrete foundation can admit water over top of the foundation wall and through patches of porous concrete; a masonry wall through bad mortar joints and porous masonry units like brick and concrete block. This seepage can be stopped by installing an exterior waterproofing membrane, a thick coating of asphalt-modified polyurethane that is applied to the wall with a trowel to form a permanent water barrier.
When ground water is high, the membrane can be augmented by installing exterior drain tile and drainage board to protect the membrane and channel water downward.
No matter what the source of water or recommended repair, an Elk Grove Village homeowner that needs wet basement waterproofing requires the help of a professional contractor that knows wet basement waterproofing inside and out. At U.S. Waterproofing, we have been keeping basements dry and safe all over Chicagoland, including Elk Grove Village, since our founding in 1957. Why not ask for our free advice?