We get a lot of calls this time of year from homeowners because the sump pump has stopped working. There are six main reasons why sump pumps shut down. Electrical problem - you need to be sure that the pump is getting electricity. Check the fuse or circuit breaker to make sure it is not tripped. Plug something into the outlet to be sure it works. Your sump pump may have a "test" button as...

Recently we were called in by a previous customer who had just built a new house. He had a floor crack in his new cement basement floor and had some water coming up through it. He was wondering if he should put in a sump pump or should he have the floor crack repaired. Our recommendation was to put in a sump pump. We broke the floor, dug down, put a sleeve in, and put...

Foundational wall leaks have always been a common issue for homeowners. Especially during periods of heavy rain or snow melt. Foundation wall leaks can wreak havoc on your basement. Basement wall leaks, can happen in a couple different areas of your house for a few different reasons, and many repair options prove to be ineffective. Ineffective DIY attempts that fail include hydraulic cement, Flex Seal (as seen in TV), or tar. These methods tend to...

There is a lot of snow in and around Boston. In fact, many areas have at least 36" of snow that will eventually melt. This equals over 3" of water. This means that there will be over 3" of water sitting on the ground when this melts and we are expecting more. Not only are we going to have more water and snow, there is we also need to consider the snow on the roof...

Bulkhead leak problem: Last night, I received a call for a woman in Nashua, NH that was having water entering her foundation from the seam between the bottom step of her bulkhead and the concrete floor. She told me that her husband had tried to stop the foundation leak with hydraulic cement that had failed. I questioned the homeowner about the bulkhead leak and found out that as soon as they wet vacuumed it up,...

With all the bad weather we have had around Boston, we tend to see all kinds of de-icing products for safety purposes. It is great that these products are being used to stop people from falling. But, you are really damaging the concrete with de-icing products? If you think about it, the de-icing products melt that ice and turn it back into water. The water goes into the concrete. The concrete is cold, and the...

Here in New England we have been hit hard with snow this winter. We have had more than 4 feet of snow in the past 3 weeks alone. Some people are reporting issues with ice dams forming on the edges of their roofs. An ice dam is a ridge of ice that forms at the edge of a roof and prevents melting snow (water) from draining off the roof. The water that backs up behind...

We have received more than 3 feet of snow over past two weeks across many cities/towns across the state of Massachusetts. The forecast is even predicting almost another 2 feet of snow this week (2/9/15). If you have read some of our previous A-1 Foundation Crack Repair blog posts, or listened to a few of our Crackman podcasts, you know that when the temperature rises during the day (when the sun is out) and falls...

Concrete shows wear and tear. This is because, here in New England we have very cold weather. Concrete is like a sponge and it will absorb water. Then we have cold weather and the water in the concrete freezes. Concrete is tough to a point, but when the water freezes, little bits of the concrete expand and break. Similar to a popcorn in a microwave, the concrete pieces get bigger and they pop. This is...

Let's start with the environment. Cement plants have been notorious polluters. With the EPA getting more aggressive with them, they have really cleaned up and now are considered clean manufacturing facilities. Transporting cement used to be challenging. You used to have to mix it at the build site. Now there are cement trucks that turn while transporting, the mixer turns so the cement can be mixed at the plant. As a result of the mixer,...