All-Dry of the Carolinas Before & After Photos

Our customer in Columbia, SC owns a business that needed some restoration, but the basement had an issue with water intrusion when it rained, so the business owner had to fix the water problem before any restoration work was started.

In the "before" picture you may not notice any issues, but when we arrived to give the customer a free estimate it was not raining that day, but the customer informed us that when it rained heavily the water would come in through floor consistently.

The best resolution for this customer was installing a WaterGuard System and Sump pump. The WaterGuard system is a piping system that intercepts water at the perimeter of the basement and the sump pump keeps the water pumped out of the basement. Some may ask why we use these interior systems rather than exterior french drains? Simply put, time and cost. To install an exterior drain around the perimeter of your home, basement waterproofing contractors will first need to excavate the area around your foundation with a backhoe. Before this can be accomplished, anything around the perimeter must be removed- including porches, shrubbery, gardens, sidewalks, steps, part of the driveway, and anything else that may be sitting near the foundation. The WaterGuard system is installed indoors with little or no prep-work by the customer.

The "after" picture shows the same basement with WaterGuard and the Sump Pump installed. Notice the wet concrete around the perimeter. The All-Dry of the Carolinas crew has broken up the concrete, installed the WaterGuard piping, and replaced the concrete. The WaterGaurd is under the concrete, so no square footage is lost and the customer does not need to worry about accidently damaging the WaterGuard!

Mold and mildew can be a pretty serious issue, especially when under a home. Due to the Stack Effect, up to 50% of the air on the first floor of a home can be air from the basement or crawlspace. This means that any harmful allergens, such as mold particles can be constantly circulating throughout your home. 

This happened to be the case with this home in Columbia, South Carolina. This crawlspace was very low to the ground which made traversing and inspecting the area much more difficult. However when our System Design Specialist went under the home, he found high humidity levels throughout the crawlspace. In some area, on the floor joists, there was even mold growing. 

After learning about these issues, which they suspected, the homeowners decided have the work done that was quoted by our Specialist. This included drainage matting, 3-inch drain tile, CleanSpace, a TripleSafe sump pump system, and a dehumidifier. All of these products work together to ensure that water stays out of the crawlspace and the humidity levels stay below the point where mold can grow. The difference between the crawlspace before and after our crew installed our system is incredible!

This basement was in pretty rough shape overall, but their sump pump definitely needed an upgrade. This is a pretty traditional, although outdated, way to install a sump pump inside a home. The first photo is, of course, the old sump pump that was in the home before we were able to come in and upgrade the system. The second photo shows the sump pump installation in progress.

This is an open-air container that hopes to collect any water that flows down to it, but has no real drainage to it. Once the water gets to a certain level, the pump turns on and removes the water. However, while waiting for the water to get to that level, the water is evaporating and getting into the air, and eventually will start to get into the drywall and anything else that is porous. This is extremely unhealthy, which was why the homeowner decided to go with our new SuperSump pump system.

The new sump pump is much better and more effective than the owner's old one. First off, it is completely sealed, meaning that once the water is inside the sump basin, it won't be evaporating into the basement. Another extremely important factor is that there is drainage that runs to the sump pump. Rather than just sit in the room, letting water slowly drain over the floor, the sump is connecting to WaterGuard which goes around the perimeter of the basement. This means that the water is not even getting a chance to be in the basement, it is immediately being picked up by the WaterGuard to drained down to the sump pump.

Sump pumps aren't anything new and have been around for awhile. They are a great tool in order to pump water out of the home and helps to prevent flooding. However, traditional sump pumps aren't really the best equipped for basement waterproofing (at least not without a little help). Digging a hole in the ground and placing a sump pump in it may help to prevent a basement from completely flooding, but it won't solve moisture and humidity issues.

This was the case in this particular home, the owner knew they had water intrusion so a sump pump was installed almost exactly as described above. This is not a great solution because it leaves the area open, which allows moisture to get back into the basement. It also doesn't prevent anything from getting into the sump hole. This can lead to blockages and more wear and tear on the pump itself.

The sump system that we installed was a TripleSafe, with a total of three pumps. One of the biggest benefits of this system is the liner that the pumps sit in, it has holes that allow water to flow in from below, but has an airtight lid so that none of the moisture can get back into the basement. Two of the three pumps are plugged in as normal, however there is a third pump that runs off of the battery that can be seen in the photo. This system can handle several thousands of gallons per hour, so it should have no problem dealing with a wet basement!

When it comes to water and basements, the best thing to do is to try to keep the water out. However, this is extremely difficult to do since much of the water gets in by soaking through the basement walls from the soil outside the home. There are certain things to do outside the home that can help, but usually don't solve the problem completely. The next most important step to take is to have something on the inside of the home that can catch the water and get it back outside of the home.

This homeowner was already on the right track by having a sump pump installed. However, the current sump pump that was in the basement was is definitely not recommended. This sump pump is essentially a pump stuck in a hole that was cut in the basement floor. There are two big issues with having a sump pump like this. The first is that because it is essentially just sitting in mud, the pump can easily be clogged up and stop working. The other issue is that because it is open at the top, moisture is still able to get into the basement. 

The homeowner's new sump pump, the TripleSafe is a much better solution. While this photo was taken while the crew was still installing the system, the new pump system can be seen. The TripleSafe has a line that keeps all of the pumps contained and off of the dirt floor, while still allowing water to get to the pumps. It has a total of 3 pumps that can pump well over 6,000 gallons of water per hour. After the crew finished with this project, this basement floor looked almost brand new, with all of the excess dirt/gravel/concrete removed and new concrete poured around the TripleSafe and WaterGuard that was also installed.