As Benjamin Franklin said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When it comes to your basement, it may be worth a lot more! You never want to find that water or excessive moisture has started to wreck your basement. Your foundation is supposed to be the solid base on which your home is set. It also serves as extra storage space, entertainment or living space, along with storing the basic infrastructure that keeps your home running smoothly.
Water from winter melt off, excessive rain storms or local flooding can find its way into your basement through cracks in the foundation walls or floors. If your drainage system is not working properly or your windows wells are damaged, water is going to get in. Even if you don’t immediately see it, you will probably smell it. Then you have to find the source of the problem. You don’t want to wait until your floor starts to lift or the wall coverings start to peel, or worst yet, you get mildew or mould growing. These are expensive problems to fix.
Getting your basement waterproofed is a proactive measure to protect your home and contents of your basement. Professional companies such as the City Wide Group have honed their skills over the past 50 years in the Greater Toronto Area and the Niagara Peninsula. Now they are spreading their company’s reach out across the province, starting with the Tri-Cities area of Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge and other locations in Southwestern Ontario. Known for using the latest technologies, their highly-trained personnel will be able to identify the basement waterproofing project that fits your needs. Whether yours is a new build or a heritage building, your home is in good hands with the City Wide Group.
Each area of the province has its own particular soils and climate mix that have an impact on the way the environment can influence how your foundation reacts. Having people who are familiar with your area working on your home is key to a good job.
They conduct inspections to determine if there are any repairs needed and then can conduct interior or exterior waterproofing which includes new weeping tiles and a rubber membrane seal on your basement walls and floor. Your property will be returned to the state it was before the trenching needed to work on the foundation. If you need additional space in your basement, City Wide Group also conducts underpinning which allows you to gain headspace in your basement to make a more usable area for storage or living.
Exterior waterproofing involves digging a trench around the perimeter of your home, repairing any cracks, replacing the weeping tiles, repairing any window wells, cleaning and sealing the walls, filling in with clean gravel and soil, replacing any asphalt or interlock. City Wide does it all.
Interior waterproofing requires a trench in the inner perimeter of the foundation down to the footing, repairs to cracks, replacing weeping tiles, repairing windows wells, sealing walls, filling in with clean gravel and cement to return the basement floor to a smooth level surface. Underpinning is conducted to add space to your basement by lowering the basement floor. Shoring up the walls and protecting the integrity of the upper levels of your home, they dig down the required level to provide the addition space. This type of project allows for the addition of floor heating, new drainage systems, sump pumps and plumbing rough-ins for additional bathroom facilities.
The City Wide Group is a family-owned business with a solid commitment to customer satisfaction and doing the job right the first time. There are no short cuts when you are working with them. The Consumer Choice Award has been presented to them for 23 consecutive years and they have a long list of satisfied customers. They are so confident that you will be happy with their work that they offer a fully-transferable lifetime warranty protecting you and future owners of your property.
Having the basement of your home waterproofed or underpinned provides you with immediate benefits. Your basement will be dry and usable including anything you store there. If you want to finish your basement to add an entertainment area or extra living space, you can do so with confidence. Your family won’t be exposed to the risks of mould exposure. It also provides you with future benefits when you come to sell your property. It is a definite advantage to be able to demonstrate that your property has been well maintained and that you have taken the extra step to protect the basement from water damage.
As a homeowner in in the Tri-Cities or Southwestern Ontario, you can take advantage of the experience and expertise of the City Wide Group to waterproof or underpin your basement. Call for a free estimate, you won’t be sorry.
