Maintain Your Floor Drains and Sewer Lines
It’s important
to remember that flood-proofing a home basement only has a few things in common with waterproofing large structures like apartment buildings, hotels, or parking lot garages. It’s true that both usually have floor drains that can be maintained by snaking a pipe with electrically-powered drain cleaning rooter machines. However, unplugging a house trap clean-out or catch basin is a completely unique project.
Sewer Lines
Unlike sewer laterals in large industrial structures, the sewer main in your home can become clogged with substances like fat, grease, food, cosmetics, shampoo and toilet paper. Regardless of how well your basement walls are waterproofed to protect against hydrostatic pressure and provide under slab drainage, you could still be susceptible to a flood from a backed up floor drain.
In order to avoid this, there are a few precautions you can take. First, if you’ve had problems with the main sewer line clogging in the past, it might be time to replace or repair it. Jackhammering the basement floor is the only way to reach the pipe itself, but a sewer snake or hydro jet might be able to solve the problem just as well. And don’t forget: your gutter downspouts tie into your main sewer line too, which is why these are also taken into consideration by many professional basement waterproofing companies.
Regardless of how well your foundation is protected against the elements, you might want to think twice before finishing your basement and adding drywall or carpeting. If you do end up suffering from an unavoidable flood, these elements can make cleaning up much more expensive. Contact us for more information.
Jeff’s passion for basement waterproofing can be traced back to his early days at Everdry Waterproofing. He spent significant time working in every department not only to learn and improve but to help those who worked with him advance both personally and professionally.
Jeff has worked in the Waterproofing industry for 35 years, gaining experience in marketing, sales, service, and installations. As a seasoned basement waterproofing professional, he is passionate about advancing his knowledge in waterproofing and developing his team. In addition to basement waterproofing, he is also a board member for a non profit that educates and protects consumers against unethical business practices. Outside of the office, Jeff enjoys travel, music, and time with his wife of 36 years and his two sons.
Curious about the brains behind the great content here? It’s me, Jeff Schleuning, with 35+ years of expertise in the basement waterproofing industry and a rich history of owning a Basement Waterproofing franchise in Michigan.
My journey has equipped my team and I with invaluable insights, enabling to craft content that resonates with the audience using industry-leading online tools. Incorporating tools like SEMRush, Google Keyword Planner, AI technologies like ChatGPT, Claude-2, Google Bard, and Grammarly, we ensure the content is not just engaging but also strategically aligned with market trends.
