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A TRUE Story about inside “waterproofing” from a friend

March 3, 2009

So…the waterproofers trenched my basement yesterday, meaning they used jackhammers all day and broke up the concrete about a foot out around all four walls. That is so that they can put a new footer drainage system in to keep the water from building up in and behind the walls. Not a huge biggie.

However, as the evening progressed we started smelling an odor in the house that we couldn’t place. By the time bath-time rolled around I pinpointed it to the basement and was getting a headache and sick to my stomach from it. I ended up crawling all over the house and sealing off our vents with wax paper in an effort to block it off.

By the time bathtime was over I was horribly sick from it, Rob was finally aware of how bad it was (he has no sense of smell, I swear), and even Ben was talking about the stinky house. Heck, the cats didn’t even want to go into the basement, which is their normal domain.

My immediate thought was that it was some sort of poisonous fumes and that we were all going to end up dying in our sleep from it. I started to worry that although our house didn’t run on gas that maybe in the past it had but was capped off and the jackhammers caused a gas leak in the house. So, I called the after hours gas hot-line who told me to call 911.

Enter the Fire Department…

Yup…the fire department came to my house at about 9:15 last night. They came into the house and sniffed around and could tell us there were noxious fumes (duh) but they didn’t know what it was. So the Fire-chief came about 20 minutes later with a meter that detected flammable and explosive gas levels. About 30 minutes later we got the word that whatever it was it wasn’t gas and wasn’t at flammable or explosive levels. Good news, but our house still smelled like the devil’s butt!

The 2 firemen that initially took the call thought it might be methane or stagnate groundwater. The brainiac waterproofers disassembled our sump pump, which was full, w/o first emptying it. So it was sitting down there uncapped and full of yuck. Plus the trenches they had dug up had filled with ground seepage as well.

Anywho…I still had visions of us dying in our sleep because it was an awful stench! I cannot even convey how bad it was. I think the inside of a septic tank filled to the brim with rotten fish mixed in would be more pleasant and less sickening…

So off to a hotel we went. And thankfully I have awesome friends that help out in a pinch!!!

Gena was soooo sweet to let me pester her at 9:30 on her day off and hook me up with a room on her hotel discount! For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting her you are really missing out…she is simply the best! I’m so lucky to have someone like that in my life!

So…we’re home now and after a night with every window open the house is tolerable. And the waterproofers have been put on high alert that if the job isn’t finished today they can kiss our payment goodbye.

I swear, I am about ready to bulldoze this house and just try again…

To avoid these hassles and keep the work on the outside of the house, where TRUE waterproofing takes place, call Jon Bridgan at NoVa Barrier Waterproofing systems. The numbers are 540-974-2755 or 703-866-0535 or 804-859-2544. Our website can be seen at www.NVBWS.com

Tags: Basement Waterproofing, install drain, Jon Bridgan, NoVa Barrier Waterproofing Systems, True waterproofing, wall drain, Waterproofing, www.NVBWS.com

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A TRUE Story about inside “waterproofing” from a friend