Basement Waterproofing Case Studies: Wicomico County, Maryland - Not every basement has four perfectly straight walls with no obstructions
Challenge
This home (like many others on Delmarva) has a basement full of obstructions. There was a water heater in the corner with no way to get behind it to install drainage pipes. An electrical fuse box was supported by a framework of 2x4's. When things like this are found in a basement that is set to be waterproofed by DryZone, there are really only two options. Option one would be to call a plumber to disconnect and move the water heater, just to pay them again to move it back and reconnect it after the waterproofing is completed. Then and electrician would have to be called to do the same with the fuse box. These things are costly because each sub contractor has to be paid, probably separately for each visit. They also take time which may be the most precious commodity when dealing with a flooded basement. Option two is to sit down with the homeowner and explain that DryZone has ways of installing our drainage systems around obstructions. Involving the homeowner in decisions is the easiest and best way for everyone involved in a project to feel confident and comfortable.
Solution
Most of the time the homeowner decides to save time and money and just work around water heaters, fuse boxes, and other things found in a basement. The small sections of exterior wall are not going to cause such a problem that they render the entire system useless. In the case of the water heater, the WaterGuard pipes were installed as close to it as possible. In front of the water heater a small channel was affixed to the basement floor. This is very similar to the process used to install our DryTrak waterproofing system. The channel is connected to the edges of the WaterGuard and the space is filled with stones. This will direct any water coming from the small section of wall off to the drainage pipes and eventually to the sump pump. As an added bonus, the stones around the water heater will act to catch a leak in case the water heater should ever develop one. To go around the framing of the fuse box the crew simply went around the small structure with WaterGuard. The reason why they treated each obstacle differently is because the water heater is very heavy. If they had cut the floor away to install pipes in front of it, then weight could have made the water heater topple over.
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