1912 Foursquare, Tipperary Hill

The situation

The owners had lost the basement to spring flooding for eleven years running. Each March the cove joint would weep along two walls, and within a week there was standing water deep enough to float storage bins. A previous contractor had glued a surface channel to the slab, which caught perhaps a third of the water and none of the hydrostatic pressure (opens in a new tab) .

What we did

We removed the failed surface channel and installed a below-slab waterproofing system along the two affected walls, bedded in washed stone at footing level and wrapped in filter fabric. A dimpled wall flange was set behind the stone to capture seepage through the rubble joints, with clean-outs at every corner.

The outcome

Through the following spring, the heaviest snowmelt in eight years, the basement recorded zero standing water and relative humidity held between 44 and 51%. The owners have since finished the space as a music room.

Surface channels are the first of the four shortcuts in where the cheap quote is hiding something . Where the wall itself is sound and only one or two openings leak, crack repair is the cheaper and correct answer instead. The free inspection is how we tell which house is which.

By the numbers

Metric	Result
Linear feet treated	68 ft
Water managed, peak week	4,100 gal
Post-install humidity	44-51%
Warranty	Lifetime transferable