Hi Jon,
I have a driveway retaining wall that continues to be pushed by the ground, even though it is backed by gravel and drained to "nothing under the driveway" except crushed gravel. I realize proper drainage affects this somewhat, however would prefer not to cut open my driveway, sidewalk a...
INSPECT, MAINTAIN OR INSTALL BACKFLOW DAMPERS UNDER THE BASEMENT FLOOR BEFORE DOING ANY RENOVATION WORK IN A BASEMENT.
Installing a backflow valve between you and the city requires cutting into the concrete floor. With our changing weather, this valve is almost always necssary and generally cod...
Michael writes from St. Lazare, Quebec : We recently found a nasty surprise with our new house. The land has a high water table and as a result we have sump pump in the basement. The plumbing for this pump was hidden in the walls and ceiling of the basement. When our inspector inspected the home,...
This article deals with walls below grade, foundation walls. For insulating above grade cinder block walls see How do you Insulate a Brick and Block construction as well as Insulating an Above Grade Block Wall from the Inside.
The best way to prevent water from leaking into the basement is not ...
Walls often have air spaces hidden somewhere between the siding on the outside and the drywall on the inside. Some are accidental -- some on purpose, even code required -- some served a purpose at one time in history but because of the evolution of construction, are no longer useful -- some a...
Lokesh from Newmaket has a problem with his concrete driveway not being level. It actually flows water into the house. If you don't want to dig it all up and start over (which sometimes is the cheapest solution), you can actually raise the concrete slab to level it or even slope it away from the ...
Simon from Surrey, BC has an absolutely flat backyard and the kids have to wear boots just to walk across the grass.
If it is perfectly flat you will have to do some landscaping, although not too much. In fact you could pull back the grass and simply put some soil under the grass to change th...
Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:
Category: Adhesives Product: Epoxy - Wet-Bond
Temperature Limitations: Above +10 C (+50 F) -- although a special product called "Cold-Bond" will work at -6 C (+21 F)
Rain Limitations: Can be applied in r...
Whether you are building new or renovating, you can have incredible full sized windows in a basement. A standard window well is designed to hold the soil back to allow for a window that goes a few inches below grade. But if you were to radically extend the idea of the window well you can actually...
It is rather surprising to me how little information there is available on sump pumps and more specifically on sump pump pits.
We find two basic kinds installed in homes.
One is just a water collection box where perimeter drains flow and a pump then lifts the water up and away from the house.
...
