I had a water leak in my basement. Every time it rained, I knew I had to get busy with a mop and bucket or a wet vac depending on the amount of rain that fell. Water will always enter my basement from under my front steps.
I got a couple of quotes to repair the leak, but of course, those quotes were quite exorbitant, almost like a second mortgage. The quotes included digging out along the interior of the basement and installing sunk pumps, drains and other stuff. Aubrey told me to leave the repairs until his next visit to Atlanta.
On his next visit, Aubrey surveyed the situation and said he could fix it from de outside. He did an estimate of what I needed. We went online and sourced the material. We went to the hardware/supply store and picked up all the portable material and tools necessary to dig along the foundation and to seal the outside foundation wall. We ordered the appropriate aggregate/stones and had it delivered.
Of course, this project required some manual labour to dig a trench, seal the wall, then lay the aggregate, etc. There are always 'day labourers' hanging around outside the hardware stores, and at specific businesses hoping that someone would come by and offer them a job. We decided to go that route. We drove to one of the locations and were immediately surrounded by individuals eager for a day job. Aubrey selected 2 of them and we brought them back to the house to get started.
In no time, deh dig dat trench!! Aubrey looked under the front steps and saw where and how de water was entering de basement. Yuh cud tell dat leak was there a long time. There was literally a mini trench under de front steps. It is an older house and somehow ah tink de previous owners knew about de leak and didn't tell us about it because the room that was always wet had brand new carpeting when I purchased the house. We were told that the water heater broke and flooded the area, so they changed the carpet...RIGHT!!!! There were other 'untowards' things discovered after de fact. Let's just say very dishonest previous owners!!! Anyway, back to de story at hand!!!
The workers dug the trench as instructed. When it came to filling the trench, was another story...Aubrey started explaining to them exactly how he wanted it done. The workers looked at Aubrey as if he crazy, and told Aubrey that his method was too long/detailed, and dat was too much work. They were ready to just dump the aggregate in the trench, cover it back and be done with it. Aubrey, having done many structural projects in Trinidad, insisted that it must be done a particular way. The workers didn't want to do it Aubrey's way, so Aubrey decided to pay them for digging the trench and sent them on their merry way.
Ah know alyuh wondering how de job get done! Well, let me tell alyuh how! Aubrey decided that me and he goh finish de job. Ah nevah wuk so hard in mih life, filling and toting buckets of stones to fill this trench. Is ah good ting de aggregate wasn't too far from de site. We wuk till late into de evening. We sealed the outside foundation wall, laid barrier material, fill de trench to a certain point with de stones, laid some filter material, laid more stones till we eventually got it done.
Guess wat? Ah was sore fuh days after dat!! But it was well worth it!! Outside of de materials and paying the two workers fuh digging de trench, my money stayed in mih pocket. Aubrey nevah took shortcuts.
Well, needless to say, ah nevah see water in mih basement after dat!!
Ah know ah took pictures, but cannot for the life of me find dem.
Aubrey was always about quality!! Job well done!!!
