Sump pump failure, basement main room and office in Hinsdale, IL

A sump pump failure put water across the lower level of this Hinsdale home. Diego, our project manager, saw it the same day, and the crew stabilized the space right away with two dehumidifiers and a coat of antimicrobial on the area rugs, which were left to dry where they lay.

The full scope followed. It was written to measure first and remove second. In the main room the crew moved the contents and detached only the baseboard and trim that had been tagged as wet, then checked the drywall with a moisture meter and drilled core holes only where it read wet, looking for soaked insulation behind it. The vinyl flooring came up wherever the water had gone, following the waterline across the room. Near the TV the toe kick came off the cabinets so the crew could check underneath for moisture. Any standing water was extracted, and every affected surface got antimicrobial.

The back office and storage room got the same measured approach, with one more step: the cabinets and counter were detached so the crew could see the wall behind them and get the flooring out from underneath. The laundry room needed a moisture check, baseboard removed where it was wet, and antimicrobial on the floor.

The drying set was two dehumidifiers and sixteen air movers. At the first monitoring visit two areas still read wet, so one dehumidifier and five air movers stayed while the rest came out. At that visit the owner decided to discard the area rugs, and the crew widened a few drywall cuts to give the foundation repair contractor room to work. Two days later the last wet areas had dried out; the equipment left the house and the owner signed the completion certificate, six days after the first visit.