Basement Waterproofing Ashton-Sandy Spring

Located between two reservoirs on the Pawtuxet River, the twin communities of Ashton-Sandy Spring, Maryland have plenty to offer residents in terms of boating, swimming, fishing, and other river activities. It’s also in a prime location: residents can commute to Baltimore or Washington, D.C. in about the same amount of time, and Ashton-Sandy Spring is close enough to the main highways to be convenient but far enough away to be a quiet place to live.

Unfortunately, living close to a river also comes with a few risks. The dams on the Pawtuxet do a good job of regulating the spring swells, but there’s always the possibility of a flash flood overwhelming the local storm drains and the many streams in the area. And even without the risk of a flood, a heavy rain on its own can do a lot of damage to a home that isn’t properly prepared for it.

That’s why AA Action Waterproofing is here to provide basement waterproofing in Ashton-Sandy Spring and beyond, whether the basement in question is old, new, or not yet built.

The Slow But Steady Danger

Nothing lasts forever. Even thick concrete foundations will one day crack, and that’s assuming they haven’t already. Soil is constantly on the move, thanks to factors like plant growth, gravity, and particularly water. Soil expands and contracts in the winter thanks to the way water freezes and melts, and all of these factors together can put lateral earth pressure on basement walls and cause them to crack.

Once a basement wall or a foundation slab cracks, it can become easy for water to work its way in and force the crack to expand through the same freezing and melting cycle. At this point, a lot of water can slowly leak into your basement, either through runoff from rain and melting snow or through subsurface seepage that pushes up from below.

A basement leak is bad news for several reasons. First, it can damage wood, carpet, leather, and other objects you might have thought were safe in your basement. Second, it can easily lead to mold outbreaks, and a large concentration of mold can affect the air quality and safety of your entire home. Third, mold isn’t the only thing that needs water, and a leak could allow a colony of ants, termites, or other pest animals to take up residence in your basement. For all these reasons, basement waterproofing in Ashton-Sandy Spring and everywhere else is essential.

How Waterproofing Helps

A basement waterproofing in Ashton-Sandy Spring or elsewhere in the Baltimore-Washington area isn’t just a matter of finding the leak and slapping on a layer of water-resistant paint. In fact, while doing that may make the problem disappear for a while, the water trapped in the concrete will continue to widen the crack during the years you can’t see it.

Instead, waterproofing usually consists of finding out how water is getting inside the building and figuring out why its original defenses aren’t working anymore. A lot of building design is dedicated to keeping water away from the foundation, including everything from sloped roofs and rain gutters to sloped ground and a layer of gravel between the basement walls and the soil beyond.

In some cases, the culprit is nothing more than the water in the air. If a house is too cut off from the outside, humid air can get trapped inside and create condensation on the cool stone, concrete, and metal surfaces in the basement. If that’s the case, the solution is as simple as putting a dehumidifier in the basement.

Professional Perks

AA Action Waterproofing provides basement waterproofing in Ashton-Sandy Spring and in communities throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, D.C., and Virginia. We have the expertise it takes to identify potential and existing problems, to repair cracks and fix a building’s waterproofing measures, to remediate mold outbreaks, and to improve a building’s waterproofing if it needs improving.

If you decide to contact us and set up an initial inspection, we can provide you with a first estimate free of charge. This means you’ll know just what you’re paying for before you have to pay anything at all. And even if your basement is full of cracks, even if there’s an inch of standing water, or even if a flood has filled up your basement, you’ll be in good hands with AA Action Waterproofing. We’ve been in this business for just about 30 years, and we haven’t met a basement we couldn’t clean.