Deerfield, IL is a town with a bit of a split personality.  The village is home to a number of corporate headquarters, including Walgreen’s, Baxter International and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, among others.  It’s also a desirable bedroom suburb with a variety of housing stock, excellent schools and a thriving commercial area.  In fact, it was named the 3^rd best town in the U.S. to raise children by BusinessWeek.com in 2007.

In the basement waterproofing business, drain tile is one of the most useful and versatile tools available to solve basement water problems.  It can be installed inside or outside the foundation (or both), can be done during new construction or after the house has been standing for decades and it rarely, if ever, needs maintenance.

The residential real estate market in Chicago has begun to bounce back and people are once again listing homes for sale and eager buyers are traipsing from house to house in search of their dream home. 

The Orland Park area was originally settled by English immigrants, followed by Luxembourgers and Germans, including the Hostert family whose original log cabin is still preserved in the village today.  The “father” of Orland Park, John Humphrey, was part of the second generation of settlers and he gave the town its name and served as its first village president; his home is also preserved and serves as the headquarters of the Orland Historical Society.

Des Plaines, IL is known these days as the “City of Destiny” and for its proximity to O’Hare International Airport and for its much-debated gambling casino.  Back in the 1940s and ‘50s, however, Des Plaines was the “City of Roses” and its proliferation of huge commercial greenhouses made it the world’s largest producer of hothouse roses.

Basements are supposed to be dry so they can safely be used as storage, work or living space.  When a basement has water seepage not only is its use compromised but the resulting dampness and mold growth can affect the health of the home’s residents.  So it’s a fairly simple conclusion that when a basement experiences seepage or dampness that it’s time to waterproof.

There are two basic types of foundation damage.

Morton Grove was originally part of the tribal lands of the Potawatomi, much like the neighboring village of Skokie and the nearby Chicago neighborhood of Sauganash.  Settlement by Europeans began in the 1830’s and the area, now a bustling suburb, was mostly rural and devoted to farming.

If the intentions of the original developer of the area now known as Palos Heights had been carried out, the city’s 12,000 residents would today be engaged in small-scale farming.  Originally a large tract of farmland along Harlem Avenue, Palos Heights was first developed in 1935 under the name “Harlem Heights.”

Spring 2013 will be noted in weather history for two characteristics:  It’s been unusually chilly and unusually wet.  Most Chicagoans shrug it off as some sort of karmic balance for Spring 2012 when it was atypically warm and dry.