Basement Waterproofing Halethorpe
As an inner-ring suburb of Baltimore, Halethorpe’s history is familiar enough to anyone who knows about the housing boom of Post War America. Thanks to the GI Bill’s subsidized home mortgages, everyone who could was buying a car, a house on a half-acre, and leaving the apartments and tenements of the inner city behind. For the people of Baltimore, one of their first destinations was the community of Halethorpe, especially those who wanted a short commute to the nearby University of Maryland Baltimore County.
However, a lot of the homes and other buildings constructed during this period are now starting to show their age in a big way. It’s not just a matter of old problems like asbestos insulation and lead paint, it’s the fact that the methods which construction companies used for basement waterproofing in Halethorpe are now both outdated and starting to fail.
The Harm That Water Can Do
Unless you’ve lived through a flood, you probably don’t think of water as being all that dangerous. However, it is. Water is the most powerful erosive force on planet Earth, and chemists call it “the universal solvent” because of how more chemicals can dissolve in water than in any other liquid. Even snow and ice can damage homes and trees if it piles up too high.
Outside of a flood, water can damage a home in three different ways. First, rainfall can seep into a foundation or basement wall through a crack and widen it as it expands and contracts with the temperature. Buildings have several ways of keeping rain away from foundations, but all of them can fail over time.
Second, the local water table can rise above the basement floor and soak into the foundation slab. This is especially a problem for towns that sit next to rivers and harbors, including Baltimore and its surroundings. If the water table is the problem, above-ground basement waterproofing in Halethorpe won’t be able to help.
Third, humidity can cause problems, mostly by getting into basements and condensing on cold surfaces like pipes and steel shelves. Condensation leads to mold outbreaks and pest animals, neither of which are welcome in homes.
How Waterproofing Works
The goal of every form of waterproofing is to make sure water stays away from the interior and away from the foundation. The shingles or tiles on the roof count as part of your home’s waterproofing system, as does the gutter system that deposits rainwater several feet away from the base of the walls.
Other waterproofing systems are hidden underground. After the construction company finishes with the foundation and basement, they fill the holes around them with sand and gravel, which let water pass through instead of soaking it up and expanding the way clay does. They also place perforated drainpipes beneath the foundation which connect to the local storm drain system. Still other methods for basement waterproofing in Halethorpe include a water-resistant coating on the basement exterior and sump pumps, which can keep the water table below the foundation.
Why Call The Professionals?
AA Action Waterproofing is ready and able to help you with preventative basement waterproofing in Halethorpe, foundation repairs in Brooklyn Park, mold remediation in Hanover, and more. We serve the entire state of Maryland and more, including communities in northern Virginia, D.C., Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
When it comes to waterproofing problems, it’s always better to act quickly rather than wait around for a problem to inevitably become worse. Like with cars and your own body, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You can spend either a little money making sure your home’s aging foundation is safe from water, or you can spend ten times as much on repairs, replacements, and mold remediation.
When you bring in the experts of AA Action Waterproofing, you’re bringing in the best people for the job. Not only that, you’re also bringing in the people who know exactly what problems your property might have and exactly how to address them. We also provide this information for free: your first inspection and estimate are free, and you have no obligation to use our services after you see what we plan to do and how much we’ll charge. So if you think your basement waterproofing isn’t up to code, feel free to contact us right away.