During a recent inspection of a leaking commercial basement in Liverpool, one of our team came across a rather poor excuse for a basement waterproofing sump and pump system. The sump had been formed using a header tank to provide an extremely small catchment area for the leaking ground water that was entering the basement.

Into the “sump” a single pump had been installed with no back up or high water alarm. On close examination our surveyor was able to identify the pump as being one of many affected by a defective float that does not float at all, when exposed to water over a period of time the float absorbs water and stops activating the automatic switch on the pump! It was also clear that this “sump and pump” has never been serviced and was never actually likely to have provided any real benefit due to the sump being located around 6.5 metres below the external ground level, well below the depth at which that particular pump would have any useful capacity.

Basement waterproofing poorly designed and badly installed can lead to thousands of pounds worth of damage and in commercial buildings the financial losses can be significant. For Guaranteed Basement Waterproofing and Tanking in Liverpool or throughout the UK, call now to book a consultation with one of our Waterproofing Design Specialists.