Basement Waterproofing Before & After Photos

At this home in Newark, DE the owners were in need of a sump replacement and installation of our WaterGuard sub-floor drainage system. The basement had minor cracks in the foundation blocks that caused some leakage inside, so the team placed our CleanSpace Vapor Barrier along the walls to capture and carry down into the floor drain. Once we installed the SuperSump Pump, we connected the whole system into a flowing, working unit that will keep your basement dry.

Just about every contractor who knows how to hang drywall thinks they have the expertise to finish a basement. After all, how hard can it be, right? But basements pose certain challenges that aren’t a factor in the upper floors of your home, and the products and materials that work in your living room are not suitable for your basement. That’s why it is so important to hire an expert.

Basements are usually at least partially underground, so the walls and floors are colder and need to be insulated. There is more humidity in the basement, commonly due to moisture from the ground migrating through the concrete, or the heat of your dryer coming into contact with the cool walls, forming condensation. There is also the potential for flooding due to sump pump failure, leaks from your hot water heater, icemaker line or washing machine hose, a broken pipe, or the dreaded toilet overflow.

Drywall and fiberglass insulation should never be used in basements. Even if you never have a flood, the high humidity will cause mold to grow on these organic materials and within a few years, your basement will start to smell like mold, and that’s just not healthy air to breathe.

Our company never uses organic materials when finishing basements. On this job, you can see that we used a different type of wall board that is called Everlast Wall, which comes with a vinyl finish or unfinished and ready for paint. Everlast Wall is 100% inorganic and comes with a 50-year warranty against water damage and will never have mold growth. We also used a beautiful, inorganic wood-look flooring that comes with a guarantee against water damage.

The installation of a SaniDry XP dehumidifier guarantees that the basement will never feel damp. Most basements need a dehumidifier, especially if it is a finished basement where you and your family will be spending time. The standard store-bought dehumidifiers are not powerful enough to do the job. The SaniDry is 7-9 times more powerful than a regular dehumidifier, and not only does it dry the air, it’s 2-stage filter removes airborne allergens.

Lastly, we added a Rockwell Egress window well, which allows for escape out of the basement in case of emergency. Building code requires that every finished basement has at least one egress window. Rockwells are a safety feature with a bonus! They allow lots of daylight to enter and brighten up your space.

So, if you hire a contractor to finish your basement, and you see him (or her!) dragging sheets of drywall and big rolls of pink insulation toward the entrance of your basement, wait until he makes the next trip to his truck to grab those boxes of laminated flooring that he plans to install, then lock your doors, turn out the lights and pretend you’re not home. And always remember - Mold LOVES organic materials, but it doesn’t stand a chance when it’s up against Basement Systems’ inorganic building products!!

For this basement project we replaced all of the current basement windows and wells with our EverLast windows and Sunhouse enclosures and even turned one window in to an Egress. The 60 x 48 Egress window was paired with our Rockwell and Rockwell Cover. 

The homeowner of this unfinished basement reached out to our company due to water coming through the walls. The team installed our sub-floor drainage system, which is designed to capture the leakage coming down the walls and into the drain. Then the crew lined the foundation walls with our CleanSpace Wall system, which will then capture the leakage coming in through the walls. Our systems are designed to be effective as well as efficient, making your basement dry from the moisture or any potential water. 

In Newark, MD, a homeowner grew concerned after noticing increasingly damp conditions in their basement, likely caused by wall cracks that were allowing water to seep in during wet weather. Worried about the risks of mold growth, structural damage, and a worsening moisture problem, they reached out to Quality 1st for a lasting solution. After a thorough inspection, our team developed a tailored waterproofing plan to address the water intrusion and protect the basement long-term.

To resolve the issue, we installed our patented WaterGuard Drainage System along the basement perimeter to capture and redirect seepage to a sump pump before it could reach the floor. We paired this with CleanSpace Wall Panels, which act as a vapor barrier while also brightening the space. For complete water removal, we added our reliable TripleSafe Sump Pump System, offering three levels of protection, including a battery backup for power outages. To prevent winter-related backups, we installed the IceGuard Discharge Line.

With all systems in place, we restored the basement to a dry, healthy, and worry-free environment, while delivering the homeowner with total peace of mind!