If spring rains have brought water into your basement, it might be time to give Olivieri and Son a call

By Laura Briedis

Even though we are weathering a stretch of hot, dry summer days right now, don’t be fooled into thinking that you don’t have to worry about a wet, leaky basement. There may be issues hiding in your basement walls and foundation.

Just ask one Strongsville homeowner who could have saved thousands of dollars if he knew there was a problem lurking behind his walls.

“The house we moved into was originally built in 1978,” says Jon, who moved here from the New England region. “When we purchased it in 1996, the original owner had built a wall to conceal the crumbling foundation in the finished basement. We did not discover the problem until last fall when we had a plumbing issue.”

“When we called a plumber to fix the issue, we discovered that the problem was not the plumbing, but, rather, a major problem as the wall was buckling in,” he explains.

“Since this was such a major repair, I interviewed 10 to 15 companies because each one gave me a different alternative as to how to fix the wall,” says Jon. “Some of the companies were offering bandage repairs, like putting carbon fiber strips on to secure the wall. I liked the approach Olivieri & Son Basement Waterproofing took by recommending a rebuild of the foundation from the ground up.”

Jon happened upon Olivieri after noticing the hard-working crew fixing another house down the street. “While driving to work meetings, I saw that they were on the job early every morning and worked late into the evening,” he says. “And I knew they took pride in their work because they kept their trucks so clean. I stopped and talked to that homeowner and she raved about the company, so I had them quote my job.”

“They were very empathetic and even encouraged me to get other quotes but cautioned me not to use shortcuts to fix the problem, since that was what the previous homeowner did,” says Jon.

In business for nearly four decades, Rocco and Mark Olivieri head up the family-owned company. Working together as a team, the father and son duo and their employees perform all the work themselves and do not employ any subcontractors. Fully licensed, bonded and insured, they have earned a reputation as being able to handle any job—big or small—from start to finish.

“We jacked up the entire house and removed the old foundation and rebuilt it from the footers up to the ceiling,” explains Mark. “And to add extra stability, we inserted rebar stakes into the cement block walls every 48 inches.”

Once the wall was rebuilt and the jacks removed, the company waterproofed the basement. The crew tarred the outside of the new foundation walls, added foam insulation sheets to relieve stress from the surrounding saturated soil, filled in with washed limestone to help keep water from sitting around the base of the foundation, and then backfilled with soil to complete the process.

“Not every job requires a complete foundation rebuild,” notes Mark. “Oftentimes if the walls are bowing, buckling or shifting, we can straighten the foundation by excavating the wall from the outside and jacking it back into its original position. We then reinforce the wall and go through the waterproofing process to prevent problems from happening again.”

Olivieri & Son specializes in basement waterproofing, foundation straightening and rebuilding, and sewer inspections. To schedule a free estimate, call 440-342-6844. Check out BasementAndWaterproofing.com for more details.