The past week or so has been gray, wet and humid — not really ideal weather conditions for doing much at all aside from mopping up rainwater…

When the house was initially constructed, the basement was nothing more than a four foot crawlspace used to access utilities, piping and as a vacation spot for NYC sewer alligators. Part of the last rennovation effort, the crawl space was excavated into a full fledged near apartment quality basement area (it’s only missing a rear exit and shower).

Things looked great until the first MAJOR rainstorm of the year. Because the depth of the building had changed, the grade of the main leading out to the city sewer system was reduced to compensate. Yes, a backflow valve had been installed to prevent backflow of human waste water, however hydrostatic pressure on heavy rain days would force rainwater collected from the grates, deck and gutters on the property to flow into the basement.

At least it wasn’t crap…

Fortunately for me (unfortunately for them) a family friend had the same problem recently and found a basement waterproofing contractor with everything I typically look for (insured, bonded and a BBB record). Enter Vulcan Basement Waterproofing.

After reviewing their BBB record and checking them out on NYC.gov I called them in for a Saturday inspection. To eliminate the backflow & flooding problem, they reccomended digging a 3 foot deep trench, laying a perforated pipe leading (all covered with gravel) to a sump pump connected to a backflow preventer valve leading out of the house.

The price was right & this coming Friday I get to see how this works first hand (as well as what’s under my basement floor).

More on this after Friday — cross your fingers.

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