Foundation Repair & Basement Waterproofing in St. Louis, MO

If you live in St. Louis, MO, it is highly advised that you have two sump pumps. This is because of the severe storms that develop in the area on a yearly basis. Sump pumps have a tendency to malfunction after severe flooding or after a storm. If a sump pump has to pump out an excessive amount of water over a long period of time, the battery might shut down due to being overtaxed. If this happens, your basement will start flooding again despite the existence of the sump pump.ump pumps like the ones in our SafeDri™ can be installed with a battery back-up pump. If the primary one malfunctions during a storm, the back-up will start automatically. Even if there isn’t electricity, the sump pump will keep running and draining water out of your home. The best thing about our SafeDri™ units is that they alert you when the back-up kicks in. Knowing when the primary pump has failed will help you stay one step ahead of the flooding.

Two sump pumps are simply safer than one. Given how detrimental foundation water damage can be, you definitely want to be safe and not sorry. Don’t worry about your energy bills with a battery back-up pump. The second pump is only meant to run when the first one fails, so it will not passively consume the energy in your home. If your current sump pump fails and the flooding causes foundation problems, the repair costs will be a lot worse than getting a second pump.

One of the key aspects of foundation waterproofing is a proper drainage system. The ideal drainage system would be able to take care of water in the foundation as well as outside of it. While sump pumps are capable of collecting and draining groundwater, they can only do so in the area where its drain pipes are, so the rest of the basement’s sides get neglected. This is where a perimeter drain comes in: it’s designed to drain all the groundwater that a sump pump isn’t able to. Perimeter drainage systems can be installed inside and outside the basement, and there is one method that works better than the other.

Interior drainage systems tend to be better for foundations than exterior ones in the long run. This is because exterior drains are both expensive and require extra maintenance. With exterior drainage systems, the drain pipes need to be installed underground, right along the foundation, meaning that a deep trench needs to be excavated. This is a lot more expensive than the small trench made for an interior perimeter drain like BasementGutter™.

Because an exterior perimeter drain is placed underground, it has a lot of problems with clogging. Mud can easily block water from flowing through the pipes, causing drainage issues and flooding. BasementGutter™ does not have this issue because it is installed above the mud zone. It is specially designed with filters capable of catching debris before it stops the flow of water, a much more efficient drainage method than any exterior drain. Overall, BasementGutter™ is less expensive, easier to install, easier to maintain, and more effective, so you shouldn’t have any trouble choosing which drainage system works best for you.

Efflorescence is a white stain that shows up on concrete surfaces. It looks almost as if the concrete was spray-painted with white paint. Efflorescence shows up on concrete when the moisture in the structure solutes the salts in the concrete. As the water rises to the surface of the soil, it brings along the displaced salt. The water evaporates, but the salts form clumps along the surface of the soil.

Efflorescence is not dangerous, at least not in the way that mold is. It’s just salts and minerals, so exposure to efflorescence will not affect your health. However, the existence of efflorescence on your concrete can indicate that you have moisture problems, especially if the efflorescence is on concrete that is over one year old. If water is somehow saturating the concrete and then escaping to the surface, it indicates that your basement walls are somehow getting saturated with water. Besides being a problem sign, efflorescence can actually accelerate the deterioration of concrete.

When the salt particles accumulate on the surface of the concrete, they actually block moisture from evaporating out of the wall. Water is an erosive element, so if water gets trapped inside, it will displace the concrete’s particles to the point where there will be cracks and tears. All concrete cracks, but those that are exposed to water frequently tend to crack more than dry concrete structures. In a driveway or pool deck, minor cracks are expected, but in a basement wall, it could mean more flooding. The older the concrete is, the more likely it will crack, so be wary of foundations that were built over 15 years ago.

When a home is being built, contractors will compact the soil that the foundation will be made upon. This is done to make sure that the soil is as dense as it can be and capable of supporting the weight of an entire house. While the soil is capable of doing just that the first few years after the home has been built, it will eventually experience erosion. Soil erosion describes the way soil shifts and moves as it is exposed to water and other elements capable of displacing it. For soil in St. Louis, MO, the soil is granular enough that even just the weight of the house can eventually cause it to shift about.

As the soil under the house moves, the house begins to settle on top of the uneven soil layer. Depending on how the soil eroded in the first place, the house will either sink straight down or, it will sink on one side. Tilting settling can lead to differential settling, which is when a home settles to the side as the foundation tears away from the rest of the house. This kind of settling is what causes the most obvious problem signs, such as basement flooding and jammed doors. It’s caused by the foundation no longer being able to take the uneven distribution of weight as the house shifts.

Groundwater also plays a major role in foundation settling. As the water table rises when it rains, the soil gets displaced and loosens up. A proper foundation drainage system does more than just keep water out of your foundation: it can also help prevent foundation settling. The key to preventing foundation problems is to limit its exposure to erosive elements like water. There may not be much you can do about the weight of the house, but you can control the amount of groundwater that’s around your foundation.

Helical piers and push piers are two different types of support systems meant to stabilize settling foundations. There are some very slight differences in the way that they are installed and their functionality depends on a few different factors. There is no such thing as “better” or “worse” when it comes to helical and push piers because both of them are viable, long-term solutions for foundation settling. However, the pier system that is chosen to support your home will be determined by a few things.

Most homeowners in St. Louis, MO will be recommended helical piers for foundation support. This is because helical piers do well when installed in softer soils. The Menfro soil of the region is fine and loose, meaning that helical piers will not have a problem getting installed. Helical piers are driven into the ground mechanically until reaching load-bearing soil. Once the proper soil depths have been reached, the helical pier doesn’t really need much else to do their jobs.

Push piers, on the other hand, are hydraulically pushed into the ground until reaching load-bearing soil. The only thing is, the push piers exert upwards pressure upon the house (which is what stops the settling), so the house needs to act as a counterweight. If the house isn’t heavy enough, the push piers will not stay down. Push piers can also be installed past sedimentary rock, which is something that helical piers cannot do, so the terrain type on your property is also a factor in choosing which pier system works for your home.

Mudjacking and PolyRenewal™ are both concrete lifting solutions that are meant to lift a settled slab back into place. Mudjacking is the older method of the two, and also a lot more well known. However, just because something is well known doesn’t mean that it’s good. Mudjacking has been around for a very long time, so most contractors swear by it because it’s what they are used to. It’s also incredibly cheap because the material used to lift the slab is cement, which is a cheap material to buy.

PolyRenewal™ uses polyurethane foam, and not only does using this material make for a more convenient installation process, it also makes the repairs last longer than in mudjacking. The cement used in mudjacking can erode and it can disintegrate with time. Once this happens, your slab will settle once more. Polyurethane is a synthetic material that is completely waterproof, so it doesn’t get negatively impacted by water. As a matter of fact, it can deter water from reaching the soil and causing further erosion.

The cement used in mudjacking is rough and heavy, so the soil underneath it can shift away under its weight. Polyurethane, on the other hand, is lightweight and causes minimal disturbance to the soil. The holes drilled to inject polyurethane foam are also smaller than those drilled for mudjacking, so contractors that use PolyRenewal™ are able to work with weak concrete as well. PolyRenewal™ is better than mudjacking because it addresses all the problems that appear in mudjacking repairs. Your concrete is something you should only have to repair once, so choose Foundation Recovery Systems if you’re interested in PolyRenewal™.