SPRING IS HERE! HAS YOUR BASEMENT SPRUNG A LEAK?

Now that the sun is shining and we finally have some nice temperatures after another long Edmonton winter, have you noticed any leaks in your basement? As the ground is thawing and shifting with the changing temperatures and spring runoff, you might notice a small trickle coming in through your foundation. Edmonton is especially bad for this since many areas were built on former swamps. This little bit of water may not seem like a big deal, but it will cause mold and could lead to bigger problems down the road.

The two options of dealing with this are to either excavate and patch the crack from the outside or to inject through the wall and patch the crack. Excavating is good way of dealing with this. However, it is also a very expensive option. You may have to rip out a deck, remove landscaping, and deal with Alberta One Call (always remember to call before you dig). The other option is injection. Desco injects either a polyurethane or an epoxy designed to bridge the gap and provide a curtain barrier on the exterior. The injection then forms a permanent barrier that will allow for future movement in the crack to limit new leaks from happening. If necessary, injection can be used to stabilize a foundation that has structural issues as well. But if there is structural issues, we would recommend consulting an engineer.

Urethane injection is a tried and true method and there is no project too big or too small for Desco. We have completed projects as small as a crack in a residential basement, to large cracks in a parkade, to installing a curtain of urethane in the LRT tunnel. Contact us here to find a solution for you or if you’d like us to have a look at your leaky basement.