Imagine being stuck in your basement during a fire that prevents you from going up the stairs or out the door. How are you going to get out? That’s where egress windows come into play. They are essential components for safety when it comes to your home because they can …
The foundation walls and floor of your basement are built to support your house and to keep out the moisture that surrounds them. Their purpose is to keep your home a dry and stable structure for you and your family. When foundation walls crack, it can cause moisture or harmful …
You’re outside your house doing yard work when something on your home catches your eye: a crack in the foundation cement. Or, you’re inside, and you notice a slight fissure along your bedroom wall. Sound familiar? Not every crack is a big deal; sometimes they’re just the product of an …
“Drain Tile will solve your problem!” Perhaps you’ve heard this statement from someone and are wondering whether or not it’s true. Owning a home can solicit a lot of advice, wanted or unwanted. Friends, relatives, neighbors, and busybodies may try to be helpful by telling you what your home needs. …
Leaks are frequent annoyances amongst homeowners and can leave a substantial amount of damage if you don’t clean up the mess quickly and thoroughly. Numerous things can cause this disaster. Maybe your home wasn’t built correctly, a natural disaster has caused flooding, or perhaps you’ve had a water pipe come …
The other evening I had the opportunity to work with one of our project managers, and it so happened that the project we were asked to bid was an egress (escape) window. The homeowners were engaged in a rather extensive remodeling of the basement, turning it into a very livable …
I often compare our industry to the automotive repair business. How many of us go with our car to the repair shop with a stalling engine, or a jerky transmission, or some other problem only to find out that the cost of the suggested repair is many thousands of dollars? …
Individuals faced with the prospect of spending many thousands of dollars repairing a sinking or settling foundation have an important decision to make—helical piles or push piers? A homeowner’s decision is made, normally, with the information provided by the companies selling the work to the homeowner. This process, depending on the skill and …
I thought long and hard about writing this article regarding our approach to water control in basements. Our company, Basement Repair Specialists, uses “water control” to describe our approach to mitigating moisture problems in basements. By the way we are not original in that regard. “Water control” is the term many reputable …
A nearly 10 year old study commissioned by the City of Menasha, Wisconsin points out some of the challenges inherent in the wall anchor method of repairing bowed basement walls in expansive clay soils, specifying among other things that anchor systems should be installed below the frost line (which naturally …
