Adventures in Ice Damming

Ice damming is no picnic. It came to us through our sun room and front entrance. On a sunny afternoon in late January we heard water dripping. Soon we had assembled buckets and bowls underneath the biggest leaks and even perched small pitchers and cups on a heavy wall mirror to catch every drop. It didn’t take long before fissures had opened down the walls and paint began bubbling from enough leaks to sink a yacht. We know for a fact that this hadn’t happened in our house since at least 1974! The deep freeze from the first polar vortex, then slight thawing and then refreeze...

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Heavy Rain and Flooding in Chicago Area

The record rainfall in the Chicago area this year caused flooding for thousands of homeowners.  Chicago’s north and south sides were both hard hit with flooded basements, roadways, and even sinkholes.  Some of the hardest hit areas include River Forest, Des Plaines, Oakbrook, Downers Grove, Lombard, and Lisle in the western suburbs and Barrington, Barrington Hills, North Barrington, Lake Zurich, Cary and Fox River Grove in the north and northwestern suburbs.  The highest rainfall recorded during the June 26th rain event was 8.05” in Barrington. What do you do after the initial basement...

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