What do you do when you come across a bowing foundation wall? What system do you use to fix it? Or do you turn the work away?

If you are a basement waterproofing contractor and repairing bowed walls by another means or system, or, if you are passing up these types of repairs, you need to look into carbon fiber technology.

Emecole has partnered with Fortress Stabilizations to offer an alternative to expensive excavation systems. Carbon fiber systems are installed on the interior foundation wall to stop the wall or crack from moving or opening. Carbon Fiber technology doesn’t straighten the wall, but stops it from moving any more.

We have products for bowing walls as well as structural cracks from hydrostatic pressure and settlement. Carbon Fiber Grid braces a bowing or fractured block or concrete wall. Neckties keep a foundation wall from moving inward.

Carbon fiber staples hold a structural wall crack after it is filled with either epoxy or rigid polyurethane foam. We recommend using epoxy when the crack is less than 3/16th of an inch. When the crack is greater than 3/16th of an inch we recommend using rigid structural foam like Emecole 120. Carbon Fiber Stitching Dogs are designed for concrete floor crack repairs but the same guideline for crack injection material applies.

When you understand the products and what is available carbon fiber can be the strongest and least invasive option for structural repair.

Radon Mitigators and Waterproofers have been butting heads for years. Radon Pros have been closing the interior drainage systems that waterproofers install to fix the radon problem but causing another water problem. In the mean time, waterproofers have been voiding their warranties after radon mitigators disturb their system and recreate radon problems when they reinstall an open system.

If these two industries better understood each other and what they were both trying to accomplish, then t hey could make a pretty good team. We arent’t saying that waterproofers need to become radon mitigators or vice versa, but wouldn’t it be nice to not have to redo each other’s work.

Radon Mitigation/Indoor Air Quality and Waterproofing are closely related fields. If there was a networking relationship between these two groups, they would be a major source of referrals for each other. Think of how many times radon mitigators run into wet basements, or how many waterproofers talk with a homeowner concerned about radon. Why not be known as the waterproofer concerned about radon problems and willing to work with the radon mitigator to ensure a safe and healthy home?

Are you networking with indoor air quality professionals in your area? Why or why not? We want to know if this theory really works in the real world.