Basement Waterproofing Photo Album: Basement Waterproofing in Dollard-des-Ormeaux

Our clients suffered from a major water infiltration in their basement after a big rain, causing damages to everything in that basement. The carpet, gyprock walls and everything in between were damaged. The clients needed to get this problem fixed asap, and for good, so they could reuse their large basement fully, without being worried about any future water infiltration problems.

Sump pump with open pit in DDO

The main water infiltration came from under the slab, especially from the perimeter of the basement since this was the easiest way for the water to flow in. However, the sump pump did not help at all. An open pit like this is much like a humidifier, causing a lot of humidity in the basement especially if it drains the water from a french drain. Not having a backup system for the pump is a major risk any home owner could take.

An excellent sump pump system in DDO

We replaced the existing sump pump pit by our Super Sump, which is not only hermetically sealed to prevent humidity from going out, but has an alarm system that sounds if the pump stops working and the water level reaches the top. In the case of this client, we installed as well an UltraSump battery backup system, which is a backup system that can discharge about 12,000 gallons on one discharge. This is the equivalent of a small-sized swimming pool!

Dust in the basement?

Installing an interior drain will cause some dust in the basement, as we have to chip off the perimeter of the slab and break the slab at the sump pump installation point. However, we do our best to cover everything and leave the basement as tidy as we could.

Installing the interior drain to replace the french drain

Installing a footing drain gives much better results than a french drain, as it does not clog easily like a french drain. Since the installation is done from the inside, the perimeter of the slab has to be broken and up to about 32" from the wall finishing. This means that we do not have to break the walls completely, and they can be partially refinished with a better wall system such as the Everlast Wall Restoration. You can notice in the picture too that we install machines to blow the dust out of the basement as we work.

Installation of the internal foundation drain in DDO

In this picture you can see the installation of the internal "french drain", or footing drain, the WaterGuard. This system is very flexible since we do not have to run along the full perimeter of the house, but treat the areas that have problems. In this case, we did about 80 feet of the perimeter of the basement, leaving the garage and a small room out which had no issues, thus saving the client a lot of money.

French Drain replacement system in Dollard-des-Ormeaux

You can see here the finishing stages of installing the internal footing drain. After having broken about 6 inches of the slab perimeter, installed the drain, levelled it and connected it to the sump pump, we recement on top of it getting the level flush with the slab. The WaterGuard has a flange sticking out, which leaves about half an inch of space with the foundation walls, which lets drain water from the walls and any foundation cracks, something a french drain cannot do.

Sump pump in a closet

The sump pump is ideally placed at the lowest corner of a basement. However, if the client requests it, we can try to figure out alternative places for it so it could be hidden from view. Surely our foreman and his team will test the level of the internal drain to make sure the water can flow easily to the sump pump, in order to offer the clients the best protection.