Spring home flooding can occur due to heavy rainfall, snowmelt, or a combination of both. To prevent spring home flooding, here are some tips:
Maintain your gutters and downspouts: Ensure that your gutters and downspouts are clear of debris and are directing water away from your home’s foundation. Make sure that the downspouts are positioned at least five feet away from the foundation.
Install a sump pump: A sump pump can be installed in the basement or crawl space to pump water out of your home if it starts to flood. Make sure to test it regularly to ensure that it is working correctly.
Elevate important items: If you have items in your basement or lower level that are important or valuable, consider elevating them off the floor to prevent water damage.
Seal foundation cracks: Check your foundation for any cracks and seal them to prevent water from seeping in.
Install backflow prevention valves: Install backflow prevention valves (or another type of flood control system) on all pipes that lead into your home to prevent sewage backup.
Install flood sensors: Install flood sensors in areas of your home that are prone to flooding. These sensors can alert you when there is water present, giving you time to take action
If you’re not sure about any of the items above and would like someone to inspect your home and ensure it is ready for spring, feel free to give us a call or fill out this appointment form and one of The Scottish Plumber’s friendly staff will give you a call to schedule a visit.
It is estimated that homeowners spend in excess of $3,000 each year repairing the damage done by water. However, with proper planning and preparation, this cost can be completely avoided. As such, consider any of the following 5 tips for protecting your home from water damage.
1. Apply Step Flashing to the Roof
Upgrading the roof is a necessary step in making your home water-resistant. After all, the roof is one of the most common locations for leaks that can trickle into your home and create an entire trail of problems.
However, a new roof will not last long without the proper step flashing. If you are wondering what is step flashing roof, it is not the same type of liquid flashing applied to walls or windows. Step flashing for the roof is a piece of metal, bent at 90 degrees, that goes between the sidewall, dormer, or chimney. It is commonly made of aluminum, galvanized steel, or copper. Without step flashing, water can get under the roof shingles and rot the wood decking substructure, damage insulation, and leak through to drywall. As such, step flashing is a vital complementary repair when upgrading your roof.
2. Avoid Frozen Pipes and Ice Dams
Winter in the Chicago area results in a high incidence of frozen pipes and ice dams. Frozen pipes will cause cracks and leaks that become extremely damaging once thawing occurs, while ice dams cause a backup in gutters that leads to water leaking into the home.
To avoid both of these issues, it is important to contact professionals with the necessary tools and equipment to combat the ice. The Scottish Plumber has special steam-based systems for eliminating ice dams and pipe-thawing equipment that will prevent frozen pipes from bursting, ensuring that the cold of winter does not lead to water damage once thawing occurs.
3. Treat Your Siding
Siding is one area of the home that takes a lot of abuse from inclement weather and projectile impact. This can lead to cracks and fissures that allow moisture into the home.
When assessing the condition of your siding, look for large cracks and determine if the section needs to be replaced. If it appears manageable, try filling the gap with a silicone- or polyurethane-based sealant. Once all major breaches are accounted for, apply a moisture resistant exterior paint to fill in all small fissures and protect your siding from subsequent moisture damage.
4. Damp Proof the Foundation Walls
Protecting your foundation from water damage is essential, as any damage to below-grade areas of the home can be expensive–if not impossible–to repair (some figures show that water damage in the basement can cost up to $85,000 to remedy!). One of the most straightforward ways to protect your below-grade structures is by damp proofing your foundation walls. This typically involves spraying or rolling a water-resistant coating onto the surface. It helps prevent water from the soil from seeping into the foundation.
In some cases where there are large amounts of hydrostatic pressure, damp proofing the foundation may not be enough. More comprehensive waterproofing systems will be required. This involves adding a water-permeable membrane to the foundation walls that directs water down to a drainage mat or board. From there, the water is sent to underground pipes and drained away from the home’s foundation.
5. Add Drainage to Your Exterior Areas
There are several areas of your exterior that need proper landscape drains to prevent water damage.
First, all lawns and landscaping need to be sloped slightly away from your home so that water does not flow toward the building. In addition, ensure that the ground is properly aerated so that the soil can more easily absorb water and prevent situations of powerful runoff.
Next, make sure that the driveway has a good drainage system in place. Concrete driveways should be built with a slot drain to prevent water from glossing over the top and eroding the surrounding landscape. However, it is still possible for water to wash away the substrate of a concrete driveway, causing the surface to crack and buckle. Therefore, the best driveways for areas of high precipitation are gravel driveways that are held in place with permeable paver grids.
Finally, make sure that the pool and patio area of your home is equipped with a trench or grate drain to prevent standing water from building up and causing cracking or discoloration.
Stay Ahead of Water Damage With These 5 Tips
Water damage causes homeowners a sizable chunk of money every year. Fortunately, with the proper planning and execution, this can be rendered a completely unnecessary expense. With this in mind, applying step flashing to the roof, preventing frozen pipes and ice dams, treating your siding, damp proofing the foundation walls, and adding drainage to your exterior areas are 5 of the best ways to protect your home from water damage.
Todd Gillman is the content director for the Innovative Building Materials blog and a content writer for the building materials industry. He is focused on helping fellow homeowners, contractors, and architects discover materials and methods of construction that save money, improve energy efficiency, and increase property value.
You’re still recovering from the shock of learning that a pipe that carries waste out of your home was broken and cost thousands of dollars to fix. Let’s face it, before this happened, you hadn’t given much thought to your sewer and its function. You probably didn’t even remember it was there. Now your yard has been torn up and your pocket book is substantially lighter.
A rude awakening, no doubt. But now to top this all off, you come home from work and find a 4-foot tall mound of dirt in your front yard. Thinking that the job is incomplete, you call the contractor to see what’s going on and you get another surprise. The contractor tells you that the mound is there for settling, and settle it will…for months. And that if you take away any of that dirt before it has a chance to settle, you will be left with a hole in your yard.
So, you’ve now had a sewer backup into your house, paid thousands for the repair, and now you have to see one of these every time you look out your window.
• 25% Water (depends on water holding capacity of soil and precipitation)
• 25% Air
• 5% Organic matter (living and dead organisms)
The majority of soils is made up of minerals which vary in size and can range from large stones all the way to tiny clay particles, smaller than .002 millimeters in diameter and invisible to the naked eye. The spaces between these particles are occupied by water and air.
When a sewer repair is performed, the excavation disturbs the soil, the pockets between the minerals become larger, and water and air move in. The decades of compression which formed this naturally compacted soil have just been undone in a single day.
The Scottish Plumber repairing a sewer in Barrington.
And so here we are, with the giant mound in your yard, wondering what can be done. The good news is that at this point, there are still some things you can do to speed up the process. The bad news is that it won’t be by much.
What Can Be Done to Speed Up the Settling of the Mound
You can start by digging small holes several feet apart in the mound, just large enough to fit a garden hose. Then stick the garden hose into each opening, and run the water for a few hours. The water will help push out some of the pockets of air, and reduce the spaces between mineral particles, which will help with the settling process. If you have a piece of metal pipe, you can use it to get a little deeper into the mound, feed the hose into the pipe, and then run the water for a couple of hours
You should do this every few days, especially in the absence of rain. You can also use a hand tamper to tamp down the dirt every so often, and finally when the dirt is low enough to push a roller over it, you can give that a try for a nice finishing move.
Unfortunately, the majority of the work needed to reduce the settling time should have already been done. Quality plumbers and excavators will take some additional steps during the backfilling process in order to expedite the settling, including using a tamper to compact the dirt with every foot or so of backfill.
There’s no way to make the dirt settle instantly. Even the most well-compacted backfills will still require a small mound to be left behind to settle, but that mound should be no higher than a foot or two at the most, not three or four (one exception to this is when the ground is frozen – in such a case, it will be more difficult to compact.)
The best companies will also take account of how much new material was introduced into the trench when the repair was performed. Keep in mind that the dirt forming the giant mound is only the dirt that was taken out of the ground during the excavation, nothing more. However, plumbers will often bed new pipe in gravel to keep it from settling and shearing off, and sometimes the repair will include more or larger pipe than what was replaced. The best contractors will take the volume of these items into account when measuring the amount of backfill, and take away just enough soil to make sure that the mound settles perfectly a few months after completion.
Alternatives to Excavation
Of course the best way to avoid the giant mound of dirt in your yard is not to dig in the first place. There are several options available to repair a broken underground pipe without the need for excavation.
The Scottish Plumber specializes in these types of repairs. Our Trenchless Sewer Repair System and our Pipe Stent procedure can help homeowners avoid messy digs, and can repair most broken sewer pipes without the need for demolition, excavation, or restoration.
For more information, check out the video below, click on the links above, or visit us at www.scottishplumber.com.
Spring is almost here again and the one thing we can count on is that water will fall from the sky! Chicago has averaged close to 37 inches of rain per year over the last 30 years with approximately 2/3 of it coming in the spring and summer months, and these figures are trending upwards.
More rain means more problems for the already inundated system of Chicago sewers. With every major storm, it seems, some municipal storm and sanitary sewers become filled to capacity and pressurized, and too often the path of least resistance leads the sewer water directly into someone’s basement.
What can homeowners do? For starters, you should have your main sewer line cleaned and video-inspected to ensure that it is structurally sound and unobstructed. April showers may bring May flowers, but they also cause tree roots to grow faster which can wreak havoc inside of a sewer pipe. Having the sewer rodded can prevent backups caused by tree roots before they even happen.
The Scottish Plumber offers several different options for flood control. Call us today for a sewer rodding and video inspection service (starting at $99 with an outside access), and ask for a free estimate for a flood control system. We can find an option that fits both your needs and your budget, and lets you keep your mind on the flowers when the spring showers come.
When it comes to Chicago flood control, the Tramco Pump Company is a local icon. Tramco has been building pumps for the Chicago market since the 1950’s and their systems are designed to handle the kind of conditions that only Chicago weather can bring.
Besides sump pumps, ejector pumps, and batter backup systems, the Tramco Pump Company also manufactures the 900 series of flood control systems. These systems can be installed inside or outside of the home, depending on homeowner preference and the configuration of the existing pipes. The Tramco 950 is typically installed in the front yard, while the 960 is installed in the basement floor. Each unit comes with a heavy-duty pump enclosed in an aluminum encasement, and the flow is controlled with a system of check valves. The Tramco flood control system keeps city sewers from backing up into your basement, while allowing waste to continue exiting your home.
Tramco systems are extremely reliable and Tramco, along with the Scottish Plumber, guarantee each system for 10 years with both parts and installation covered. And while most flood control systems require regular maintenance, such as cleaning the lines, and lubricating the check valves, the Tramco system is virtually maintenance-free.
For a free estimate on installing a Tramco flood control system or any other type of flood control such as our double-check valve system, sump pumps, ejector pumps, or battery backups, give us a call at 888-451-6137 or contact us here.
Here in Chicago we dread our winters. That’s why when the old man came and went with barely a whimper, we all let out a collective sigh of relief. No snowmaggedon this year!!!
But, that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods, weather-wise. The strange winter could be a harbinger of more weird weather to come. That means the potential for many torrential downpours, thunderstorms, and flash floods. And that’s not very good news for the aging municipal storm sewer systems all over Chicagoland.
In just the last two years, we’ve seen some of the worst flooding to ever hit Chicago. Last year’s July storms hit homeowners harder and flooded more basements than most of us had ever experienced. City sewers became filled to capacity and overflowed into people’s homes. To prevent the same from happening this year, be proactive.
If you’ve experienced basement flooding in the past, and you’ve done nothing to address the underlying cause, then you can expect more of the same. There are different reasons for basement flooding, but each one of them has a solution. You can find more information here on our flood control page or on our sump pump page.
This year, make the right decision, and have your home inspected by a flood control specialist. If you call The Scottish Plumber, the assessment is free, and we will present you with several options to help fit your needs and your budget. You won’t regret it, and you’ll finally be able to stop building that ark.
Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1/2 cup butter (cut into 1/2-inch pieces)
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup milk
1 cup dried cranberries are a nice addition to this recipe
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450degrees F. Grease and flour baking sheet.
Sift flour, sugar and salt in bowl. Stir in peel. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Blend in eggs and just enough milk to form soft but not sticky dough. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Gently roll or pat dough to about 1/2-inch thickness, lightly flouring as necessary to prevent sticking.
Cut out rounds using 2-inch floured biscuit cutter. Set 1/2-inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Brush with cream or milk for a rich sheen. Bake until scones are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
Lemon Glaze -After baking add glaze as desired
In small bowl: add 1 cup powdered sugar and lemon juice to desired consistency. Drizzle over lightly cooled scones.
Print this coupon and present it at the time of service for a FREE sump pump inspection, plus $25 off any sump pump repair or $35 off any sump pump replacement! Serving Chicago Metro area.
This small batch of savory scones are very biscuit-like and taste best warm with a generous dab of butter or margarine.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2/3 cup milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a baking sheet. Sift together dry ingredients (flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda) in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or a fork, cut in the butter or margarine until it is evenly distributed in the flour mixture and resembles cornmeal.
Add the rosemary, honey, and milk; and mix to form a soft dough. Add more milk one tablespoon at a time if the mixture is too dry and does not come together into a ball of dough. Roll the dough out onto a lightly flour surface and pat it into 1/2 inch thickness. Using a small cup or cookie cutter about 2 inches across, cut the dough into shapes and place them on the baking sheet. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
