Water Damage Restoration And Prevention

Water damage restoration and prevention is much easier said than done. This is because people usually prefer to react than prepare.

One house I lived in had a drainage problem that created a small pond behind the house with each heavy rain. This was especially bad in the fall and winter because of the ice.

By installing a French drain tile and drainage pipe this problem vanished. If I had left it alone, I would have had to repair a foundation crack and somebody would have broken their neck on the ice!

Wet basement repairs

Probably the most common water damage repairs are from wet basements and poor crawl space ventilation. There are many excellent basement waterproofing products and companies that do a great job.

Sometimes the problem is minimal and people just put up with it during the spring and wet seasons. Yet this approach has many hidden dangers, including mold, mildew, and the musty basement smell.

There are several common methods used that can totally eliminate this water damage. Once the source is taken care of, you can use basement floor paint to prevent more mildew from growing.

Rust-Oleum EPOXYShield Basement Gray Floor Coating is available at most paint stores and sells for $48/gallon. Might seem pricey, but it does the job well.

Epoxy Shield Basement Floor Coating Kit is another good option. Expect to pay around $53/gallon.

Concrete stain is also becoming more popular. Many different designs are possible with these water based, spray on stains.

Quikrete Basement & Concrete Floor Paint is a great choice. It goes for about $25 a gallon.

The Aqua Seal Eco-Flex rubber waterproofing membrane is a safe, green method of waterproofing your basement walls. The Deco Drainage & Protection Board is a very effective method of getting rid of water along the joint of the floor and foundation.

Drain tiles/ French Drains

Drain tiles, or French Drains, are essentially plastic pipes with holes. They are buried under coarse rocks and soil alongside the foundation of a house. The water is drained into the pipes and led downhill to a suitable site for emptying.

This method is very simple and relies primarily on gravity and common sense to do the job. It is not expensive, and not very difficult to install. You can prevent basement wall cracks and water in the basement by using this method.

Basement drainage systems

A number of companies have developed high tech methods to drain basements and keep them dry. Basically, they all rely on a trough around the inside of the foundation.

This trough contains a drain pipe, not unlike the drain tiles mentioned above. The water is drained away by gravity and a sump pump to assist. This method works well when the water problem comes from under the house, not from the outside.

The Deco Drainage & Protection Board is one such method, It has proven to be effective for thousands of homeowners.

Roof, ceiling and window water damage

Water damage from the roof is much easier to identify than from the ground-you can see it! Ceiling damage might take some detective work though, you just follow the water trail to the source. A ceiling bubble or water stain has to come from somewhere. A trip to the attic will tell you.

Some roofs seem designed just to have water problems though. Odd roof angles, poorly installed flashing, cheap shingles and poor workmanship can all cause a leaky roof.

Water damage from windows can be trickier to track down. Water has an amazing ability to follow gravity and the leak may be across the room from the window! By tracking the water stains in the attic you can almost always find the source.

A competent roofer can usually easily repair the damage and solve the problem. Left alone, however, you will have a nightmare in the making.