3 weeks ago

Terracotta Foundation Basement

Project date: February 2025

Location: Ridgefield, Washington

The Challenge

The homeowner was looking forward to finishing the basement of their 1925 Craftsman-style home but understood the importance of protecting their investment with a reliable waterproofing system. This project was a unique situation for us in the Northwest, as the home had a terracotta block foundation. The homeowners were worried an inexperienced basement waterproofing company would ruin the unique terracotta foundation.

Our Solution

Knowing that most major waterproofing companies have shifted to simply capturing moisture rather than truly drying out the soil, this homeowner let Better Basements and Waterproofing earn their business with a full perimeter drainage system. This approach is ideal for the unique Terracotta foundation because it dries out the soil that is pressing up against it, protecting it for another hundred years!

Before and After Photos

Corner of the Terracotta foundation basement

18” wide concrete trench cut and ready to start trenching!

Trenching all done with 6” clay footer left undisturbed and squared up!

4” perforated pipe installed in the trench and back filled with drain rock. Cold joint diverter and vapor barrier on the walls completes the capture system!

Concrete poured and smooth! In about a day this basement will be ready for framing and finished out.

Once this glue and mortar dries you can push stones back up against this discharge and you will see it even less! Can you even find it?

Terracotta foundation outside sump pump pop up emitter

Sump pump pop-up emitter. This is where the water from the pump will bubble out. Below the discharge is a large hole filled with rocks to dissipate the water and prevent erosion.

Our famous sump pump basin with side discharge! The white piece of plastic sticking up is our dehu port that ties into the system. This allows you to connect the dehumidifier to your drainage system so you never have to empty a dehu bucket ever again!

You can catch up with me on social media where I share thoughts, projects, and updates. Feel free to follow along!

Dylan Milroy – Co-Owner

REVIEWS

What People Say

    
 
 
         
   Denise A 
 
 
 
  From start to finish, Better Basements and Waterproofing was great to work with.   I found everyone to be customer focused.  They were amazing in answering all my many questions.
  
 
        
   Russell Mantifel 
 
 
 
  Timely. Communicative. Flexible. Quality.
  
 
        
   Brian Eubanks 
 
 
 
  Great service and friendly staff.  People were on time and really helped when I had questions.  Job was quick and was cleaned when it was finished.  Thank you.
  
 
        
   Seth Miller 
 
 
 
  These folks are awesome to work with. Hyper punctual, knowledgeable, and flexible. Not pushy at all and seem to simply want your water problems to go away. I don’t feel their techs would offer or recommend doing anything they wouldn’t do to their own homes.
  
 
        
   Kathleen Jones 
 
 
 
  Courteous and friendly and did everything they needed to do in our crawlspace. Also kept dirt and dust down to a minimum and tried to keep the costs down. Would highly recommend!
  
 
        
   Tim Barbknecht 
 
 
 
  Knowledgeable, friendly, no “up sales” just honest assessments. I will hire these guys when I’m ready.
  
 
        
   Nicholas Mitchell 
 
 
 
  Highly professional company. Highly recommended
  
 
        
   Tyler Buschman 
 
 
 
  These guys are pros. They replaced old vapor barrier and insulation in the crawl space and installed a sump pump and fan for our house. Everything was done in a timely matter and looked great. I can now sleep with peace of mind. Would definitely recommend to anyone needing work done beneath their home.
  
 
        
   Ryan James 
 
 
 
  Team was super responsive and great ! We had crawl space encapsulation and also some foam spray done, with sump pump and dehumidifier. I thought they did an awesome job and really helpful throughout the process. Highly recommend !

Terracotta Foundation Basement

The Challenge

Our Solution

Before and After Photos

Recent Posts

What People Say