Connecticut Basement Systems — Local services in Seymour

I need to edit my original review, which was based on a visit where they made me feel I could trust them, only to realize it was a false trust. One of two things became blatantly obvious about CT Basement systems: either they are incredibly incompetent, or they were trying to gain false trust to take advantage of a situation where I am selling my home and they know work needs to get done. Here is my situation, and I am going to be very detailed with everything, so be prepared for an excessively long review.

House was on the market, home inspectors found an issue with the crawl space where there was concerns of a load bearing wall not having proper foundation under it, so wood was sitting on dirt, along with concerns of inadequate vapor barrier. CT basement came out, looked at it, decided that a beam with multiple smart jacks running perpendicular (under the living room) to the load bearing wall would be the answer, plus brand new vapor barrier to encapsulate the crawl space. The rep wanted a second opinion because he was concerned that the kitchen was an addition and thought water could be coming in there, despite being told the kitchen was original to the house, just initially a garage, and the slab was clear to see.

Second person came out, focused on the fact that he confirmed what we told the initial guy was correct, working to build our trust. He looked in the space, seemed to agree with the initial rep, granted thinking out loud about poured vs prefab slabs for the smart jacks, and only expressed concern about plumbing needing to be moved.

Thursday visit involved the plumber we were asked to bring out along with their project manager to look again. Plumber left relatively quickly as if he wouldn't be needed after doing his inspection. The project manager then went over it with me and said they need to run load simulations, but think the initial proposal would be fine.

The following day had a call with the initial contact we had been working with, and suddenly everything changed rapidly, without warning. By this time I had already started to grow weary of them, not having much faith in what they were saying. I said as much to the rep and ended the phone call, explaining that I need to get a second opinion.

The rep tried reaching out to the realtor "explaining" things hoping to save the deal, saying they were worried about permits and inspections. I'll get to this further in just a moment.

I have another company come out to take a look, explain what was initially proposed to us, and explained what we were told the issue was. When they went into the crawlspace, they initially asked where the light was. They flipped the switch, but nothing happened. We then came to find out that CT Basement broke the bulb in the housing during their third visit, and didn't think to tell us that day, or the following day on the phone call. Within 2 minutes of getting into the crawlspace they explained that the proposal we were given never should have even been an option. CT Basement systems was trying to cantilever support a load bearing wall, which I am told is absolutely not to code, and any structural person worth anything never even hint to that as being an option.

The correct way, as they told me, was to replace the existing beam, along with create new proper footings for the beam to rest on. Smart jacks were not the solution in the slightest, and certainly not where they were proposing to put them. Either the multiple people from CT Basement systems were too incompetent to know this, or they thought their price tag may be too high for an initial estimate, and wanted to ease us in with an initial $15,000 tag, only to bump up afterwards to what should have been proposed initially. Either way, all faith and trust has been completely erroded.

I ended up going with the second company, which is $3,000 more, but I trust is doing the job right: permanent beam with footers, not gimmicky adjustable jacks, cementing the floor, not just plastic sheets, replacing all the insulation, not just removing, and adding...

We recently moved into our new home during the summer and experienced not only a flood, but also had to get mold remediation done. We wanted to remove the source of the problem, so enter Connecticut Basement Systems which came very highly recommended to help stop water from coming into our basement and prevent water damage from happening in the first place. We also needed to get two crawl spaces fixed up to put up a moisture barrier. I was thrilled to get started with them.

We made an appointment in August without hesitation due to the high recommendations and the earliest they could offer was October. The sales person was very responsive, very helpful, answering all questions through the process leading up to installation day.

We were told to plan for 3 days, they ended up taking two. Totally fine if they had not have rushed to get the job done in 2 days and done such a poor job that has now been a frustrating process to get resolved since. Why not take the full 3 days originally planned and do a great job instead of rushing through 2 days?

Right after installation, the sump pump they installed was leaking water into the basement from the pipe it was installed with. I’m talking, they finished at 7 pm, I arrived home around 10:30 pm and the wall and floor was wet from leaking water, super close to the electrical cords btw.

Upon further inspection I noticed the poor workmanship of the clean space walls that were put up. Holes everywhere!! Holes on a wall covering specifically placed to keep water and moisture from entering the walls!! The placement of the clean space wall also looked poorly installed, not tight around seams , looked like it was just thrown up without much care. Honestly looked like someone just threw it up and slapped on some tape. There are several areas where the clean space wall meets the water guard drainage system in the floor and it isn’t tightly sealed and if water came in could easily splash out. Now, I’m not getting picky about aesthetics, I want what was installed to be functional. Aka, no holes in a wall where water could come in, seams tightly sealed, things sealed and seamless as the whole point is to be waterproof.

Also, in the original plan that was discussed the sump pump was to be placed in an entirely different space. Why was it placed differently? I was told it was an “oversight”. So someone didn’t follow the plan? I was told it had to be 3 feet from the electrical panel. When I spoke with someone after installation they told me I should google to see if that’s correct. Um, what? Why should I be googling to see if something is up to code when that’s the installation crews job to ensure it is up to code.

Our basement floor was left covered in mud that we are still mopping up a week later. I get it, it’s messy, but not even attempting to clean and leave things just a little bit better?

I was so excited and looking forward to this installation especially after all the 5 star reviews and high recommendations from people who had nothing but a great experience. We had a poor installation team and now they are trying to remedy it by slapping some tape over the holes in walls that shouldn’t have holes in the first place. At least they are trying to fix it I guess.

I always give someone a chance to fix it and they did send someone after my persistence to fix the sump pump leak and major issues before we had another rain. We are waiting another 5 weeks for further fixes to be made.

Just so disappointed with the whole process of installation and after. We paid an enormous amount of money to have this done fully trusting the process and the company. The company should be giving some of our money back due to the numerous poor quality issues of what was installed.

Time will tell how well the system works and what comes of the product. Will update once we have time to see how it performs. It’s only been a week.

I’ve included photos of the numerous holes left in the clean space wall and poorly sealed seams as well as the leaky pipe from the sump...

Materials and workmanship were okay, but scheduling was atrocious. The problems began on the day demolition was supposed to occur. By early afternoon with no contact from anyone I started sending emails asking where the blankity blank was everyone. By 3pm I got an apologetic call which indicated our project had dropped through the cracks ..... in inauspicious beginning to say the least. I'd think Bruce Reynolds – Project Manager should probably take the hit on that error unless he is completely independent of scheduling.

That was Thursday. Friday the demolition team shows up and took everything apart that needed it. Monday the waterproofing team showed up and they jack hammered the floor trench, installed the triple safety sump pumps and discharge pipes. In installing the pump discharges they drilled holes through a wooden shelf on top of the foundation wall. As it turned out, the holes were 0.5 inches too close to the wall to allow the new wall material behind the pipes that ran through the holes. Mr Garfield should take responsibility for that error. Ultimately the fix for this issue was to build a box over the sump and plumbing and completely hiding the wall that couldn't be fitted with the new wall material. It probably looks better with all the plumbing hidden than it would have with new walling behind the plumbing and all those piping connections visible. Bruce Reynolds and Shondee Blake get Kudos for that solution.

The wall and flooring got installed during the rest of the week. A ugly and amateurish access way to the water tank and main cutoff valve was replaced with a simple 8" access panel for the valve and a new door on the far side of the space under the stairs for plumbing access. Shondee Blake the carpenter and Bruce Reynolds game up with a good plan that Blake did a first class job of following.

Another area that was less than straight forward was the wall containing the fireplace and pellet stove clean outs. Blake did an excellent job installing 14" access panels and installing insulation around the access ways.

Then Memorial day weekend hit and the crew was pulled to work on a big job in a nearby town. The two plus weeks we had no activity we couldn't help but think of that lost day that began this project as it was a day worth of work that was left to do. Who was responsible for scheduling?

Blake eventually came back to finish up, but at the very end got ambushed by tiles that had been cut short and could not have a threshold strip attached (minimizing the tripping hazzard). Another few days before eventually the job was completed.

I like the look of the work that was done and it surely is a vast improvement over what we had before, but the time to completion ended up being excessive.

Update after the 1000 year storm on 8/18/24. The installed sump worked (is working) perfectly. We got 7.5" of rain and not a drop inside. They solved the wet basement...