30 Jul Pros can solve basement’s water issues

Dear Glenn: I hope you can give me some advice. I have water in my basement after a heavy downpour. I’ve been reading about possible causes. I have had the area around the foundation built up with soil to direct the water away. I have had my gutters inspected and repaired. A neighbor applied paint cement at the base of one of the affected walls. None of this has helped. I have three windows in the basement on the north side of my house. There are no window wells around them. The bottoms of the windows are a few inches from the ground and have brick under them. I was wondering about getting the windows replaced with glass block windows. If I do that, should I have window wells built at that time? My house was built in 1960, a brick Cape Cod. Is it time for me to face facts and get estimates from different wet basement companies? Elaine, Southfield Dear Elaine: Congratulations. Your analysis of the problem is 100 percent correct. It is time for one or two top professionals to look over the problem. You are right to be concerned about costs but you won’t know what the costs are until you get some free estimates. One word of advice: If only one basement wall leaks, only fix one basement wall. This may cut your immediate costs by 50 to 75 percent. Three basement waterproofing firms I would recommend are Foundation Systems of Michigan (877-379-6424, www.drymich.com), Insta-Dry Waterproofing (800-356-0820, www.instadry.com) and SAS Basement Waterproofing (800-894-5115, SAS Detroit Basement Repair Company).