Basement Waterproofing Poolesville

It’s strange to think that, until 2010, the town was legally known as “The Commissioners Of Poolesville,” but thankfully that bizarre legal technicality has been addressed. Today, Poolesville is known not for its eccentric historical name, but the farms, vineyards, and historical buildings that make this town a great place to live. That’s especially true for residents that come here to take advantage of Poolesville’s town charms while still working in Washington D.C.

But Poolesville, for all its blessings, still has a problem that may be slowly troubling its residents right under their very feet. Many people don’t notice it because it operates on such a slow timeline, but water may be getting into the basements of Poolesville homes, and this can cause some big, expensive problems without proper basement waterproofing in Poolesville.

A Little Problem Can Grow

Water can get into a basement through any number of different ways. Concrete, which is what most basements are made of, is a porous material, so, depending on the atmospheric conditions, even water vapor may simply pass through, returning once again to liquid form as it enters the cooler temperature of a basement.

Sometimes, with enough water, liquid can simply leak in, right through the walls itself. This may result in some small pools forming on the basement floor. It can be just a little bit of water that comes through when it rains, or it can be in more substantial pools with heavy rainfall, snow melting or, in the worst case scenario, floods.

At other times, the water can get in much more directly, because cracks are forming either in the walls of the basement or on the floor itself, which usually indicates a much more profound problem with the foundation itself. In these cases, not only is liquid easily coming through, depending on the size of the cracks, insects like termites and ants may be using cracks as a point of entry and eventually even plants may start extending roots through these cracks, which, it almost goes without saying, means there are serious insulation problems with a basement. In all of these cases, some kind of basement waterproofing in Poolesville can help these problems, but the solutions required may be different.

A Slow Acting Menace

The biggest danger that water presents to any basement or home is the fact that it seems like a tiny inconvenience; not even a real problem. However, water works slowly, and is usually just the most visible symptom of a much larger problem that, over weeks, months and years can prove incredibly damaging to a home.

If a home has a basement, this will usually also be the place where laundry machines, the furnace, the fuse box, the water heater and possibly even a workshop or other heavy duty hardware is placed if the area has not been finished. All of this equipment is sensitive to water, and leaking water that stands on the floor or condenses on walls and other surfaces can damage this equipment. Beyond that, water left to stand can also be a breeding ground for insects, such as the Asian Tiger Mosquito, a visitor to Maryland that is capable of transmitting both the West Nile and Zika Virus and requires only small amounts of water in which to successfully lay eggs and breed.

Water in the basement can also contribute to a damp atmosphere and this creates the ideal breeding environment for mold. Mold spores are always present in our air, there is nothing we can do to get rid of them, short of having the kind of quarantine and air purification facilities used in organizations like NASA or the Center for Disease Control. Because of this, once mold spores in the air find a suitable dark, damp environment, they settle down, mature and form mold colonies that are self-sustaining and can grow quickly in size. Once mature, mold reproduces by sending even more spores into the air, and some mold is pathogenic to humans. This means that breathing in their spore can make us sick and, in some cases, even cause severe lung infections.

All this and more can be prevented through the strategic use of basement waterproofing in Poolesville homes.

The Right Team For The Right Job

If you have a basement problem related to water, there are three essential services that teams that specialize in waterproofing in Poolesville can provide.

For people that have already noticed a mold problem in the home, mold remediation should be the #1 step that is taken. The immediate safety and health of all residents should come before tackling the root problem. Mold remediation will eliminate the mold, and afterwards, and assessment can be made about what conditions caused the mold to grow. Steps can then be taken to eliminate those causes and prevent a relapse of the mold infestation which endanger resident health as well as bring down the value of a home
For problems with the foundation that may be causing cracks in the basement, foundation repair is the ideal solution. A foundation may need to be moved back into place if parts of it have shifted to due slow acting phenomenon like seasonal “frost heaving” that can lift a foundation over the course of winter through ice forming, only to drop the foundation back down when spring returns. Cracks can be sealed and other techniques like “mud jacking” can fill in spaces where a foundation is sitting over nothing.

For water problems, techniques like vapor barriers around the outside of the foundation can definitely keep liquid out. However, other methods like French Drains, sump pumps, and backwater valves are also viable solutions to controlling water once it comes into a basement.

If you need basement waterproofing in Poolesville, you’ll need quality, experienced, expert work. AA Action Waterproofing has been serving the area of years in just this capacity. Contact us today to find out how we can keep your basement safe and dry.