Serving Southfield
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Southfield, MI
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
The city is largely office towers with houses behind them.
It is, and that puts a very large area of roof and parking deck upstream of residential streets that were laid out before any of it existed. Where a commercial site predates the current runoff rules it holds nothing back. Dated photographs during rain establish where it goes, and the city can say what applies to a site.
Nine in ten of these houses went up in the same two decades.
So they wear out on one schedule rather than one at a time. The footing drain, the lateral and the basement depth are identical from house to house, which is why a whole street can need the same work inside a year. A neighbor's failure is a dated notice, and asking what the repair involved saves real time.
The river through the middle is a county drain rather than a river.
For much of its length it is, which is a legal status rather than a description: it is an established work with its own office, records and assessment roll. That is confusing until you know it and then it is useful, because who maintains which reach, and when it was last cleared, is a matter of public record.
This FAQ belongs to the Southfield page; it is repeated here.