Basement Waterproofing Darnestown

Darnestown isn’t a large community, and it’s managed to provide a quiet town life for its residents, excepting some hectic activity during the Civil War. Today, it maintains a sedate, stable way of life with the old Willow Manor providing some architectural history and Darnestown Heritage Park giving people a place to enjoy the natural environment and learn a little bit about the past of the community.

Darnestown is in many ways an idyllic place, and it’s easy to take that stability for granted. But that also means that it can be easy for residents to forget that just because there’s no trouble on the horizon, there may still be trouble underground. A leaky basement may not seem like much when it’s discovered, but without basement waterproofing in Darnestown, these little problems can grow into large expensive messes.

Damage That Takes Its Time

Water acts very slowly, which is one of the reasons why potential water damage is so easy for homeowners to miss. Where other types of damage occur instantly, like a branch from a tree damaging a home when it falls, or a stray baseball breaking through a window, water works over a period of months, years, or even decades. It also has more than one way to inflict damage on a basement.

As an indirect force, water can work on the environment around a basement to hurt the home. “Frost heaving” for example, is a phenomenon where large amounts of water in the soil freeze when winter arrives. This causes the ice to make the soil expand, similar to how water filled to the top in an ice cube tray will “grow” beyond what the tray can hold. In this case, water exerts that same force of expansion around a home in the winter and can actually lift the foundation above the dirt it is resting on. When spring arrives, the water melts and the foundation sinks back down. Over years of this rising and falling, the foundation can move out of place, eventually throwing off its balance.

Water can also do this directly under the foundation, carrying away parts of the soil that the foundation is built on, leaving it hanging over empty space. This can also disrupt the careful balance of weight distribution the builders planned for when they built the home, and years of weight going to the wrong places in a home can damage the basement, the foundation, and eventually the entire home itself.

As a direct agent, water can gather around a basement and, through hydrostatic pressure, exert enough force to actually bleed water directly through walls and the floor, causing a wet basement that can damage anything inside. With a large amount of hydrostatic pressure, water can even find and exploit structural weaknesses in the walls and floor of the basement to push walls inward and crack floors, allowing more water to get inside and accelerate the process of damage. Fortunately, with professional help, basement waterproofing in Darnestown can alleviate all these issues.

Experts Ready To Help

AA Action Waterproofing has been helping people in Darnestown and throughout Maryland for years with wet and leaky basement problems. We understand that water damage to a home is a complex interaction between the forces of geology, climate and architecture, and that each home will have unique needs.

When you come to us with your water problem, we respond with a professional consultation that brings all that knowledge and experience to bear in service of your home. We will conduct a thorough investigation of the residence, and track down the exact cause of the water penetration, then formulate a strategy to deal with it.

If the water damage has already damaged the foundation, then foundation repair is an important first step. The foundation itself must be stabilized and restored to full functionality to ensure the rest of the home is no longer at structural risk. If there are no serious issues with the foundation, we can move onto the actual waterproofing process.

Depending on the situation, there will be different methods we can employ. Hydrostatic pressure can be relieved through the installation of a drain tile system that absorbs the excess water pressing against the basement and redirects it elsewhere. If vapor is consistently penetrating the basement and causing dampness, a vapor barrier is an ideal solution that can be readily installed to restore a dry, healthy, safe basement environment.

If you need basement waterproofing in Darnestown, AA Action Waterproofing is here to help you. Contact us today and see what we can do for you.