In May, Badger Basement Systems held a contest open to anyone who sustained damage to a basement as a result of last summer’s record floods. There were many entries in the contest, but the Smiths received the most nominations due to the severity of the damage to their home, as well as their active involvement and volunteering in the community. Staff from Badger surprised the couple at their Fort Atkinson home with balloons and presented them with the free basement renovation.

Neighbors wrote in nominating the couple explaining that the flooding in the basement was so severe, pumps couldn’t keep up. Water from the ground was seeping in through the walls of the 100-year-old house. They had to stop pumping out water or the walls would collapse from the pressure. Within a few hours they had 42 inches of water in the basement and they were forced to evacuate the house for a couple of weeks. Although neighbors pitched in to help out, the basement was still ruined.

With a crew of eight Badger staff members, construction began the morning of August 28. They installed a 145-foot perimeter system with some Trench Drains, a SuperSump sump pump, and a buried discharge. The crew started at 8 a.m. and finished cleaning up at 2:30 p.m. After going through the harrowing ordeal of a flooded basement, the Smiths were extremely happy that their basement was fixed again and that Badger was able to finish in just one day.

A sump pump is the heart of your basement waterproofing system. It’s the main tool used to remove the water from your basement. However, if it is not installed correctly then it can do more bad than good. Sump pits that are open and messy can cause water to leak out or make the air more humid. Humid air in a basement can cause mold and musty odors to form making the basement environment uncomfortable and unhealthy.

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There is the awful “mold scare” tactic, the gross misrepresentation of the amount and urgency of repairs, the bashing of competitors to keep homeowners from getting additional estimates. To force a quick closing  there is the very popular but extremely dishonest technique of  jacking up the price and, when the homeowner refuses the proposal, offer overly generous “discounts” (as high as 50% sometimes), “but only if you close the deal right now”.

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After finding water in his basement and contacting local basement waterproofing contractors in the Chicago area, he described the package he received in the mail from PermaSeal and explained the “ingeniousness of the company that mailed it; the author who wrote it; the instant edge over the competition; and how both service providers and authors can create a very nice business from this idea.”

Perry Marshall has written many popular books on Google advertising and is referenced regularly on the Internet and by sources like the Washington Post, USA Today, and Entrepreneur Magazine.

See the video and read the article here: http://www.perrymarshall.com/marketing-credibility

The article, written by Business New Haven staff writer Michael C. Bingham, chronicles Larry’s life from when he graduated high school and immediately began working carpentry jobs, to when he created his own business from the ground up and turned it into a $50 million corporation.

The story also mentions the unique features of the Basement Systems headquarters in Seymour, CT, such as the 1950s-style cafeteria and the Treehouse web department.

Read this great feature story by clicking here: http://www.conntact.com/article_page.lasso?id=42617

According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, houses south of the Tampa Bay area in Florida that were built during 2005 and 2006 were made using sub-par drywall. This cheap, China-manufactured drywall has been found to emit a sulfur-like gas that corrodes metal and plumbing, eats away at electrical wiring, and smells terrible.

The Florida Department of Health received more than three dozen complaints from homeowners across Florida, but mainly in Manatee, Sarasota and Lee counties, as well as  Pinellas, St. Lucie and Collier. This drywall may have been used in hundreds or even thousands of homes throughout Florida, and even other areas.

Read more about this drywall problem here: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/article972128.ece

For a safe and clean drywall alternative, go with the Total Basement Finishing wall system!

“The older children kind of get left out,” said Kay. He added that those who donate have also given gift certificates to movie theaters or video game stores for older kids and teenagers in need. Last week, Kay took a Basement Systems truck to 20 local businesses and collected toys.

Last weekend, he set up a tent at Sears hardware store in Shelton and collected over 40 toys and over $100 in cash donations. Kay is planning on making more pickups later this week and next week. The donations will go to the Toys for Tots toy store in Ansonia and needy families will be able to go in and pick out four toys per child for free. The toys will be arranged by age group. Those who wish to help may bring toys December 17, 18, 19 and 22 to the official drop-off sites. Check toysfortots.org for information.

“We’re probably going to do a lot more events like this in the future,” said Kay.

TEAM, Inc., is a non-profit community action corporation that helps individuals and families become more self-sufficient and provides aid to those who need it. Basement Systems, Inc., is a global company that specializes in basement waterproofing, crawl spaces, foundation repair and basement finishing. It has a network of more than 300 basement waterproofing contractors and crawl space environment specialists throughout America, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Basement Systems offers free inspections and estimates to homeowners with leaky basements or dirt crawl spaces.

For more information, contact John Kay at Basement Systems at 1-800-640-1500, ext. 9429.

A crawl space vapor barrier can prevent humidity and outside air from infiltrating your home.

For a crawl space, we install a 20-mil plastic crawl space vapor barrier called CleanSpace on the walls and floors. We also seal off the crawl space doors and vents to make an airtight space. If the crawl space has block walls, we seal off the open cavity on the top of the block with a clear plastic covering that allows termite inspectors to do their job without interfering with the installation. Once the crawl space is sealed, we can install a drain to take care of plumbing leaks, and we usually recommend a dehumidifier to help dry out the wood and keep the humidity levels appropriate in the space in the future.

Keep humidity out of your basement with ThermalDry basement flooring.

Basement Systems provides a variety of different basement wall products and floor matting, all of which will provide a vapor barrier on the surfaces that will keep humidity from entering the home through the walls and floors. There’s also a basement dehumidifier that we can install that, when combined with the wall and floor system, should help keep mold and dust mites from feeding off everything organic in the basement.

We also have many other products that will keep the house energy-efficient and safe from damage, including energy-efficient basement windows and energy saving window wells.

Winterizing your home can be time consuming, but it is worth the effort. Start now and you can avoid a slew of weather-related problems. Make sure you have a snow shovel, sand and rock salt handy for outside your house, but also look through your home and see if the interior is winter ready as well.

Winter Check List

The Tulsa World writes that you should have your furnace serviced early so problems don’t arise when you need your heater. You should also close off your crawl space so that cold drafts aren’t able to penetrate your house, and check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. By cleaning out leaves and debris from drainage areas around your roof you’ll lower the chances of ice dams or other types of blockage that can cause problems. Disconnect your hose from the outdoor faucet as well to keep the hose from freezing.

Home Depot recommends these tips for preparing your home for the winter in a cost-effective manner:

• Caulk around your windows and doors to eliminate drafts.
• Use expanding foam insulation around spigots and other entry points to your house.
• Close the flue on your fireplace when you’re not using it.
• Check the weather stripping under your doors and garage doors to make sure it isn’t worn.
• Make sure that your attic insulation meets the R-value for your area.
• Close off heat vents in rooms that aren’t used on a daily basis.

Check out the rest of this article here: http://www.basementsystems.com/press/view.php?id=130

Inquiring Eye Home Inspections, located in Trumbull, CT are basement and crawl space specialists that help homeowners to not only find problems in new homes, but to assist them in making their homes healthier and more energy efficient.

The training helps Real Estate agents to learn to address damp and wet basements, and musty crawl spaces. Instead of leaving homeowners to deal with these situations on their own, Inquiring Eye Home Inspections helps them to understand the problems and solutions that basement and crawl space environments hold.