Sump pump failure, whole finished basement in Oak Brook, IL

When the sump pump failed in this Oak Brook home, water covered the whole finished basement. At the inspection every room on the lower level was affected, and the scope called for all of the flooring to come up and every wall to be cut. Dylan, who managed the project, put the water at Category 3. One detail shaped the schedule: a stone countertop sat on the basement cabinets, and it had to be taken off by an outside crew before the cabinets could come out.

Two dehumidifiers went in first. The first full crew day ran from late morning into the evening. The crew laid floor protection from the main entrance, moved the contents and removed all baseboard and trim. They cut the paneling and drywall two feet up in the main room, a small bedroom, the space under the stairs, the gym and the other bedroom, and detached the bathroom vanity and toilet. Nails were pulled and the opened walls sprayed with antimicrobial. Thirty-two air movers were staged on site but held back until the demolition was complete. A wooden bench in the middle of the room was nailed and screwed together, and the plan allowed for taking it apart if the flooring under it could not be reached.

The crew came back two days later to finish. They removed the paneling on the mirror wall in the main room, cut the gym wall under its mirror six feet up, took out the vinyl flooring throughout, and finished the bathroom and closet cuts. The utility room had its affected drywall cut at two feet. Then the drying set went in room by room: three dehumidifiers and thirty-three air movers. The cabinets and the wall behind them waited on the countertop removal.

Eight days after the full set was running, the monitoring visit found everything dry. All of the equipment came out that day, and the crew recorded a post-mitigation 3D scan of the opened basement for the file.