
Serving Ambler, PA and surrounding areas
Approved
In business since 2002
Free estimates
Emergency services offered
"Our basement has always been damp and, at times wet when the existing drain system silted up. With this year's high amount of rainfall it needed something better. After some research on the trusty internet and interviews and quotes from 5 different contractors, Paradigm and one other company were the only ones who really seemed to know what they were about. Both quotes were about the same in cost and scope. I went with Paradigm over the other company primarily for the sense of personal responsibility I got from Andy and Ross. As the owners, they clearly take great care and pride in the work their company does from start to finish. The job involved excavation around the perimeter of the basement, including an attached crawlspace and peculiar raised section of the floor. French drains with all the trimmings, including silt filters were installed. The existing sump was improved, a second sump added, and new pumps installed in both wells. The walls were wirebrushed to clear away the efflorescence and mildew, then spray treated. Sump drains were linked to the outgoing sewer hookup (which was a problem, more on this later!). Work was completed in about 2.5 days exactly on schedule. There were two problems that came up, both resolved satisfactorily. Firstly, the drop cloths that did a superb job keeping the house dust-free on day 1 ended up releasing the accumulated dirt and fine silt into the air on days 2 and 3 as workmen walked across them, coating the ground floor with dust. They took extra care in cleaning both before and after day 3, but I didn't identify the source of the problem until late in the 3rd day of work. In the future, I would suggest cleaning, or at least beating dust out of the drop cloths after each day's work. The foreman was responsive and properly apologetic about the problem, and they did a fine job cleaning up as best they could at the end of the job. The second problem came to light a few days later, when I was talking with my neighbor. It turns out that sewer hookups for sump pump drainage were explicitly *not* allowed in our area of New Castle County. The patchwork of municipalities, neighborhoods, towns, and the City of Wilmington makes this a non-trivial question, as some places forbid these clear water hookups, some allow them, and some even encourage them! Paradigm had initially gotten incorrect information when they inquired, but confirmed that the hookup would have to be removed to pass code in our specific location. They returned to move the discharge lines, and ran them out to grade on the exterior of the house. This ended up causing another problem: a couple days later I started hearing a loud "glugging" noise coming from the discharge line on the rear pump, which was not draining properly. We had a battery backup pump on the old sump pump, which Paradigm was happy to re-install on the new pump. However, the check valve on that 5 year old, consumer grade backup had started to fail and could not support the much larger column of water in the retrofitted discharge plumbing. Andy and Ross came out twice more to fix this problem, once to figure out what was actually happening and a second time to remove the faulty pump, and to shorten and properly pitch the discharge pipe. I was impressed by the owners' responsiveness and professionalism in addressing these problems, and have confidence they will similarly resolve any issues, however unlikely, that may arise in the years and decades to come."





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