Sometimes we run into strange things during a home inspection in the Youngstown Ohio area. On this home inspection on a home that was over 120 years old we found an old stone well under the basement floor. Not something normally found as when the cover was pulled off, it dropped about 15-20 feet. This home also had a major radon gas problem. When tested this home tested at an 18! Numbers we want to see are under 4. After our sister company Bloodhound Environmental at niXradon.com installed a radon mitigation system, we were able to lower it down to a 0.6. That well was pushing a ton of radon gas into the home.

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Basement flooding? Check the grade first.

One of the most common items buyers are afraid of when purchasing a home is a wet basement. No one wants water in it and you don't want to have to pay thousands to correct it. So before you go hiring a company to bust open the floor, install drain tile, and a sump pit, check the grade and downspouts. A lot of times your downspouts are draining right next to the foundation. Water drains straight down and finds the weak spot which is the floor to wall connection and then leaks into the basement. So put those extensions on the downspouts and drain it away from the home. Next, look at the grading. Are their low spots around the home? Does it slope towards the home? If it does, get fill dirt and slope it away. Don't use mulch or rock landscaping as it won't direct water away. Fill dirt, slope away and monitor. You'll find that a lot (not always) of times this will fix your leaking basement and you won't need to go to the costly repair of busting up the floors with drains and sump pits. If you do this and you still get water, then seek out a waterproofing company. Make that your last step, not the first.

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