Serving Chicago
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Chicago, IL
Basement seepage, failed sumps, and hydrostatic pressure against the foundation are extracted and dried, and the path from the ground is identified so the loss does not repeat. Groundwater and basement seepage are extracted and dried only after the path from the soil is identified — a wall, a slab, a drain, or a failed sump. Drying the interior without stopping that path returns the same water to the same floor.
Frequently asked questions
Water came up the floor drain on a dry afternoon. Is that the river?
Not the river you can see. Packinghouse fill under the South Fork holds a table that weeps through 1950s masonry even when Midway is quiet, but a sudden rise through the floor drain is usually the combined lateral surcharging. That water is Category 3. Extraction and removal of porous material it touched come first; a wall stain on a fair day is a different job and starts at the fill, not the fixture.
The Deep Tunnel was supposed to stop basement backups. Why is my cellar still taking water in May?
The tunnels store what the dropshafts can swallow. A Midway May cell still fills the combined lateral first, and a bungalow on South Fork fill sees that surcharge at the floor drain before the shaft. Tunnel capacity is not a dry cellar. A backwater valve on the house side of the lateral is the property-level control; the dropshafts do not replace it.
The party wall is wet but our roof looks fine. Whose water is it?
Both addresses share the wall and often the gutter line. Roof water from one bungalow can travel the party masonry and appear as a stain two rooms over. Trace the gutter, the flashing, and the downspout on both sides of the wall before anyone opens plaster. Extraction still has to start on the wet side; waiting on the ownership argument lets standing water keep moving through the same brick.
These questions come from the Chicago page.