Olivieri and Son can stop the water from invading your basement

By Randal Vanderhaven

Springtime is typically the most stressful time of the year for basement walls, says Mark Olivieri, of Olivieri and Son, the father and son basement waterproofing specialists.

That, he explains, can be both a problem and an opportunity.

The bad news is, if your foundation has been compromised by major cracks and shifting, the high pressure of melted snow saturating the ground could provide the breaking point, leading to a collapse. Mark and his father, Rocco, were called to repair several of those last year in Medina County.

The silver lining on the cloud, Mark says, is that the wet spring ground may expose some small cracks that may otherwise go unnoticed until they become bigger problems.

“Usually you can save a ton of money when you address a foundation problem before it becomes a crisis,” Mark says. “But what’s important about preventing a crisis is making sure that foundation problems are fixed properly.”

Unfortunately, Rocco laments, most companies waterproof from inside the basement.

“That isn’t the best way to do it,” he insists. “We work from the outside. That’s because the most important thing is to stop the water from entering in the first place, not to re-channel it after it’s already in.”

During a recent visit with Rocco and Mark, they talked about a Brunswick home they repaired last year. The home had been waterproofed from the inside about six years earlier.

“After spending a ton of money and having the contractor come back numerous times to try to correct the problem, the front basement wall gave way and the whole front porch fell down,” Rocco relates.

“The contractor had tried to fix the problem by putting in a sump pump and channeling the water away from the walls, but that didn’t relieve the pressure from the outside. Once we got a big rain, it was too much for the walls to handle.”

After rebuilding about 70 feet of foundation and waterproofing the home from the outside, the problem was solved and covered by the Olivieri’s 20 year transferable warranty, Rocco reported.

“I felt terrible for the customer,” he says. “She had already spent thousands of dollars without fixing the problem. Her attorney told me that many homeowners in the same situation never recover their money. Going to court is expensive, too.”

Rocco and Mark understand the waterproofing process. They’ve been working together fixing basements—and saving their customers’ investments—since 1981.

They begin the waterproofing process by excavating your leaky wall all the way to the footer. Then, they pressure wash your foundation to clean the debris and highlight any cracks where moisture may be entering. Those cracks are patched and sealed with Waterplug Sealant. For added protection, they coat the end wall from the footer to grade with Thoroseal Sealant.

“Rolling a tar rubber emulsion from footer to grade is the final step in preventing moisture from entering your wall,” Rocco says.

“For proper water drainage, we install four-inch, heavy-duty, perforated PVC along the footer. We will also provide a clean-out on each wall that is excavated.”

The excavation is backfilled with premium wash gravel to direct water to the drain tile. The project is completed with a layer of topsoil—not dirt—to promote the healthy growth of plants.

“When we finish, you will hardly even know we were there,” Mark promises. “We respect your home, gardens, and lawn, and we keep them clean and professional. When the basement walls start to shift, you’re eventually going to have problems upstairs, like cracked walls and doors and windows that don’t close properly.”

If you think you may be having problems with water in the basement, or a shifting foundation, call the Olivieri and Son team for an inspection.

You can schedule your inspection with Olivieri and Son by calling 440-342-6844. Find more information at BasementAndWaterproofing.com.