Due to a high volume of calls because of the current emergency situations in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Pioneer Basement have not been able to call back everyone who has called for ether a service question or to schedule an estimate.We do plan on contacting you and helping you with your situation!
We appreciate your time and patience in this time of crisis. We will be able to eventually get to everyone.
Over this past week I must have fielded somewhere close to 1000 phone calls dealing with people’s flooding issues in places like Milton, MA; Warwick, RI; and Newton, MA. One of the questions that I’ve gotten from many, oddly enough, is what’s the point of having a battery back up sump pump installed in the first place.
2nd pump to help with volume.
First and for most, it’s a separate pump. Yes! It’s not just a battery that’s there to be hooked up; it’s a completely different pump from a standard sump pump. This means a couple good things for you as a homeowner!
First: It’s designed to back up the pump you have! Even some of the best pumps in flooding situations get overwhelmed with the amount of water they have to pump out of a basement. If the water comes in faster than a pump can pump it, then what’s to stop the water from getting in your basement? That’s where the battery backup can come in handy! It can act as a normal pump to backup the pump that’s installed; helping to handle volumes of water that 1 sump pump would normally fail to move.
Secondly, it can run on both battery power and normal electricity! This is the best of both worlds. You get a second pump to keep you dry when you’re power’s off, but you also get a pump that can operate when the Nor’easters cause the lights to go out in your neighborhood.
Depending on the type of battery backup sump pump you buy you can actually add power to it. The 2400s that Pioneer uses can actually carry up to 3 batteries to give you a combined total of approximately 21 hours of continuous pumping protection.
A Few words of caution:
I) If you’re in an area that’s prone to longer power outages of more than 2-3 days, a generator for your home might still be needed. Yes, a back up pump can help, but it can’t be guaranteed to work in a time frame that exceeds the power of the batteries it’s attached to.
II) A sump pump can’t solve all basement flooding issues. Moisture comes in the basement in a few different ways and a sump pump can only truly protect you against rising water under the slab of your basement floor. They aren’t designed to protect against foundation wall crack leaks, water coming over the foundation of the home, or water coming over the footing/wall joint and into the basement.
III) Size matters: A 1/3 HP pump can only do so much, having a pump that meets the same size as your standard AC pump is a good choice. For places along the shore or in areas that normally get high volumes of water during the rainy season, it’s possible that you’ll want to start with a stronger AC pump all together. Normal sizes for these are 1/3, ½, or Full HP. (1 HP).
This past weekend the North Eastern United States got pounded with some huge rain totals. Some areas like New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island saw, in some areas, 100 year flood conditions. East Shore areas of Maryland also quite drastic flooding in places.
In a panic, it’s easy to flip through the Yellow Pages, find the first 5 listings and call them to get someone out to your home in a hurry to have someone out this second to get things right in your home. However, this is how many customers get into trouble. With quick, unrehearsed choices in companies it’s easy to get wrapped up into a deal with someone you don’t trust, and with a horrible end product that doesn’t last as long as it should.
There are a few key places that anyone with Internet access can use in order to do some quick research on if a company delivers what they promise and if their customers think the same.
The first place that I normally suggest to everyone is the Better Business Bureau or www.bbb.org. Not only can you search by state, you can get information on how long they’ve been in business, who’s in charge, and how many customer issues they’ve had over the past 36 months. What’s better is that you can get a quick sense of how they handle things in tough situations. Do they just blow people off? Or do they take the time to really try to work something out, even if it may not be what the customer really wants (otherwise known in marriage as a compromise). **Keep in mind, the longer the business has been in business the longer it has to gather customers and help make them unhappy or keep them happy. Businesses that have been around for 10-20+ are normally there because their customer base is happy and they have a solid reputation locally.
Another place that I tell everyone to search is his or her local state department. Run the name of the company through the paces; make sure they have a license to back up the work in the state that you’re in. The worst mistake you can do is use a contractor or company to waterproof you basement that isn’t monitored by the state…then you’re really not protected.
Thirdly, if you’re a member, use Angie’s Listwww.angieslist.com. Members get access to reviews and ratings put together by other users. Yeah, it’s a feature that you might find on Yelp.com or ServiceMagic.com by since these members PAY to use the site to do research, you KNOW these people are serious and will leave honest reviews of the company, their experience and what they got out of the deal. Even though the reviews might be real or serious, Google Maps shouldn't be a place that you weigh a company. Unknown to many people Google Maps isn't monitored except for it's Users. This makes it an easy place for companies to pay or have staff bad mouth each other openly in hopes of skewing your choice.
Next is the company’s web site. Do they have one? What does this company sound like? Do they have places on the site to help you there deal with the issue, forums, and live support? Things like these can really come in handy if you’re stuck at work trying to deal with a problem that you really only have time for a quick IM chat for.
After that, make some calls to friends. Have they heard of these companies, good or bad things, have they done any work for your family, co-workers, and doctors? Getting feedback from people who are close to you is normally a solid judge of character.
The last suggestion is check the National Association of Waterproofing and Structural Repair Contractors (www.nawsrc.org) You can see who’s certified in your state and really pinpoint who you might want to start your conversation with when talking about fixing your foundation or your basement water issues.
Basement waterproofing, even if you’re a few feet in water already, is something you want to go through once and make sure it’s done by professionals with the products and credentials to provide support to you in the future.
With all this rain, all the water, and all the flooding, it’s easy to make a flash judgment and get in over your head (flooding puns not-intended).
Recently I found that Blogger was referring quite a bit of new readers over to my blog (was it because I have posted so much? Is it cause I'm already rather cool? Maybe rumors have spread about my ability to turn lead into gold?)
So firstly - Dear Blogger, thanks for thinking so highly of me!
And to my new visitors and readers - Thanks for visiting!
This blog is dedicated to information and practical examples on basement waterproofing, foundation repair, and taking care of the basement and crawl space to help make a healthier home. Many people recently in the North Eastern Unitied States have started searching for service companies through the internet to help them repair and correct conditions in their home. This was even more the case during the past 2 weeks of rather heavy rain. Basement Waterproofing Services in Maryland and even up to Maine saw busy phones and paniced people.
This blog is really a resource of useful links, reading, and information to help a home owner stay calm or help a contractor find help with a project they're in the middle of.
(Boston, ma) Over 50,000 homes at the end of February and into March were without power causing many homeowners to flood or experience water in their basements for the first time in their lives.
Coastal towns like Plymouth and Sandwich Massachusetts saw water being thrust at them not only from the sky, but also from the surging beaches.
Increasing water table from natural accumulation saw many homes surrounded by water or with inches or more into their basements.
“With a huge Nor’easter storm like this, it’s hard to keep your home protected from it.” says Steve Andras, president of Pioneer Basement Waterproofing in Mass. “Many of our customers learned from last years ice storm at the end of December and bought their battery backup sump pumps which helped them wait out the majority of the downpours.”
“It’s really a key support that any home in New England should have with the amount of annual rain fall this part of the country has. Otherwise you’re really just gambling on the severity of the storm which no one can control.”
Response teams from emergency crews, basement waterproofing companies and even fire departments all over Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island responded around the clock to calls coming in, well over 24 hours.
“It’s a yearly occurrence that is happening at an interesting time this year,” said Chris Brown, president of Rescon Basement Solutions of New Hampshire. “Normally you can expect snow or rain, but not both in such an odd pattern this late in the winter. It was a storm that definitely took many households by surprise in Northern Massachusetts.”
With even the most extreme pump provided by some local Fire Departments having trouble keeping up with volume in some shore towns, homeowners got a solid reminder of what this part of the country can see during Hurricane season.
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