Coon Rapids Minnesota Wet Basement and Foundation Waterproofing
Coon Rapids is a busy suburb northwest of the Twin Cities off of busy Highway 10. Mostly flat conditions with a mix of retail, some industrial and lots of homes and apartments. There's been a lot of growth over the last two decades but most of the homes and apartment seem to date back to the 1960's.
Coon Rapids Ground Conditions
Like a lot of suburbs north of minneapolis, we see more sand and clay in Coon Rapids than south of the cities. If your foundation settles and cracking develops, water has an easy entry point into the foundation moving through the sand. We also see enough clay mixed in that water will pond more meaning downspouts are very important to get this water away from your foundation.
Coon Rapids Broken Drain Tile System
Unfortunately there's a lot of new "waterproofers" out there that think they can do jobs like this. This basement had a drain-tile system with sump pump and basket installed. The installer used a dimple board to help collect some of the water coming in from above the floor. The customer thought all was good and the basement was finished.
Soon afterwards water was seen coming into the room, not just in one area but the whole room and all the new drywall had to come down.
The basement had water issues for a long time and during this time sand and dirt had filled the bottom of the block wall. Even with a new drain tile system, water had a hard time getting into the underfloor pipes and instead took the path of least resistance onto the floor.
This installer also left the top of the dimple-board open allowing mold, mildew and radon gas direct access to the room.
Wet Utility Basement Room in Coon Rapids
This is similar to most of our projects, sometimes it's just wet looking floors with minimal water coming in. See the darker areas on the floor and areas of bubbling paint on the walls?
Oh yea, the red tile on the floor is most likely asbestos and should be removed by a professional.
Great Lakes Waterproofing has done almost all waterproofing methods, in this case we would recommend exterior bentonite slurry injections, stopping water on the exterior for Real Waterproofing.
Bentonite can absorb 15x is volume in water turning to a thick, flexible material that will stop water.
Once pumped into the ground, it follows water pathways and voids, sealing them up against further water intrusion. Best of all it's all natural and won't hurt the environment.
Hole in Coon Rapids Poured Concrete Foundation
Great Lakes Waterproofing does not recommend putting in a drain tile system with poured or stone walls!
A lot of waterproofing contractors are now putting up plastic sheet or dimple board leading down to a channel that leads to a sump pump.
We call these sheets, Mold Factories since the area is perfect for mold growth, dark and wet. It is extremely hard to seal this area, even if initially it's sealed tight, over time the adhesive will degrade and fail, usually after a few short years releasing all kinds of nasty things into your basement air.
Exterior waterproofing stops the water and moisture from moving through your walls. An interior drain tile system would have easily cost 5-10x more than exterior bentonite slurry injections.
