The Basement Doctor and the American Pie Party Team Up to Fight Cancer #pieitforward

As of 2015, Tony Sobony, a retired school teacher from Columbus, Ohio, has taken well over 60,000 cream pies to his face. Why? Sobony, along with his American Pie Party organization, has made it his mission to raise money to fight cancer through humor. Over $50,000 has been raised in Columbus, Ohio, thanks to the efforts of Sobony, local businesses, countless volunteers and celebrities who have taken pies to the face or helped organize “Pie Party” events in the community.

Ron Greenbaum, The Basement Doctor, recently took a pie to his face to help support this organization.

“When I met with Tony and saw his passion, and the creativity behind the American Pie Party, I knew I had to get behind this cause,” he said. “I don’t know anyone whose life hasn’t been affected by Cancer. It is an honor to help in any way I can.” 

Greenbaum participated in the 2015 American Pie Party Special Events Calendar, and will be taking a second pie from a cancer survivor at a “National Pie Day” party on January, 23, at The Shamrock Club. At the party, cancer survivors, their friends and family, and local celebrities like Greenbaum will take pies to the face to raise additional funds. The cost to attend is a minimum donation of $10. Cancer survivors are free.

The events calendar is dedicated to cancer survivors and is sold for a minimum $10 donation to Greenbaum’s anti-cancer charity of choice. Anyone can participate in the “Pie Party” movement by nominating someone to take a pie in the face or hosting their own event. The Basement Doctor will be using the hashtag #pieitforward to promote and support the cause on social media.

More information about the party and the history of the organization can be found on www.americanpieparty.org.

Event Details

Where: The Shamrock Club, 60 West Castle Road, Columbus, OH 43207

When: “National Pie Day” Friday, January 23, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $10 minimum donation, free for cancer survivors

Who: Celebrities accepting whipped cream pies in the face from cancer survivors, friends and family who support the fight to eradicate cancer.

The Basement Doctor partners with United Way of Licking County for a "Week of Caring"

 For 19 years, The United Way of Licking County successfully organized a Day of Caring, a day of community service projects and volunteerism to benefit the residents in their community. To mark their 20th year, the nonprofit organization decided to expand its Day of Caring to a full week. The Basement Doctor was proud to participate as one of 12 site sponsors, donating both time and the use of a truck to help collect donated items throughout the week.

The mission of The United Way of Licking County is to unite the community to improve people's lives in the areas of education, health and income. The Week of Caring event gave residents a chance to get involved without the limitation of one business day. The week kicked off on September 21, and ran through September 27. In addition to traditional volunteer projects, the Week of Caring featured themed donation drives. Each day of the week, residents could drop off items at multiple sites throughout the county to match that day's particular theme. Themes included books and baby needs, toiletries and blood drives, animal needs, and kids' coats.

Over the years, The Basement Doctor has been involved in many different capacities with The United Way of Licking County. As a donation site sponsor for this event, we helped coordinate volunteers in the mornings and the afternoons throughout the week to collect and distribute the donated items.

"Items went to several different charities around Licking County, including Goodwill, local food pantries and animal shelters," said Sarah Witt, HR Director for The Basement Doctor. "Our trucks were stuffed to the top with all of the donated items."

Botched Crawlspace Stabilization Job Becomes A Nightmare For West Jefferson Homeowner

With nearly 5,000 residents, the Village of West Jefferson in Madison County Ohio is located just 12 miles outside of Columbus.  It is quickly becoming one of the county’s fastest growing industrial communities. In addition to being the home for many large distribution centers including Target, Restoration Hardware, Mars and Petcare, West Jefferson is also home to Battelle, the world’s largest not-for-profit research and development organization.

One member of this growing community was experiencing some issues with her sump pump. She could not reach anyone from the company that installed it and later found out that they were no longer doing business in Ohio. She then contacted our call center to schedule a Free estimate with one of our Basement Doctor experts to have her sump pump checked before more heavy rains hit the area.  Jim Shore, one of our Annual Maintenance Service associates, was able to work her in to his schedule that same day.

Once in the home, Jim found that the sump pump was going bad and recommended a replacement.
He also noticed that the pump was plugged in to a 100ft extension cord that ran along the inside of the crawlspace. The homeowner explained to Jim that the previous contractor ran that extension cord through the crawl, drilled a hole in the floor of the bathroom and plugged the sump in the outlet there. This was a huge red flag for Jim since Ohio code requires that a sump pump be run on a separate circuit. Jim asked the homeowner if it was OK for him to look at the rest of the work throughout the crawl space that the previous company performed for her. She gladly approved his request and he proceeded with his analysis.

During his inspection, Jim came across some floor jacks sitting on concrete block, which was also on top of a vapor barrier. Certified professionals in our field know that support jacks should be installed first and encapsulation is done after the foundation is secured. He also noticed that the jacks were sinking down into the dirt, pulling the liner down into the soil and revealing that they were unstable. Upon coming out of the crawlspace, Jim showed the homeowner the pictures he took while he was in the area so that she could see all of the issues. She then exclaimed,  "OH! I guess that's why that is doing that," while pointing to a wall that had separated from the ceiling. Jim asked what the main purpose of the original work was to focus on and the homeowner replied structural. However, they pushed the encapsulation telling her it would all be OK. At that point, Jim recommended having a 3rd party Structural Engineer come out to re-assess what was going on so that the homeowner could feel more comfortable having another professional opinion on the work performed. She agreed.

The structural engineer met Jim at the home and began inspecting the floor jacks and joists in thewhole-home crawlspace. His finding was that the inadequate jacks were used (those available at Home Depot). They were also installed in the wrong locations, offered no load baring support, and the foundation the jacks were sitting on was not prepared properly. Visually, you could see the floor was not level and that the main beam were cracking under the weight of the home. Jim suggested that the current jacks be removed, concrete bases be poured to ensure structural rigidity, and seven PowerPost crawlspace stabilization jacks be installed in the appropriate locations to properly support the home. The homeowner agreed with Jim’s proposed remedy and was scheduled with our Production Department.

Calvin Sparks, Foreman, went to the home on a Saturday to pour the concrete footers for each jack Mike Jenkins, Service Manager, arrived on Monday to install the Power Post crawl space support jacks. With careful positioning and properly torquing the posts into place, Mike was able to restore the structural integrity of the home. You can actually see the crack in this beam which is now closed due to adequate stabilization.

The stress of dealing with a sub-par contractor, improper products purchased at a hardware store, and a company that won’t stand behind their warranty had caused this homeowner many sleepless nights. The Basement Doctor team was happy to help this sweet homeowner and give her the peace of mind she deserves.

Flooded, Muddy & Moldy Crawlspace In Stoutsville Ohio Home Gives Owners Headaches

Located thirty minutes south of Columbus, Stoutsville is a small village in Fairfield County Ohio. Primarily know as a farming area, it is rather quiet and not densely populated.


Amongst this farmland is a beautiful 2000+
square foot ranch built in 1993 on a 5 acre lot. These homeowners raise champion horses on their farm and have very little time for anything else. They noticed their TV signal was going in and out and decided to have the cable guy out to look into it. He had to enter the crawlspace under the home since that is where their wires run. When he did, he found that the whole-house crawl space was flooded with nearly 10 inches of water. Minutes later these homeowners made an emergency call for a Free Estimate to The Basement Doctor, and Project Manager Ryan Bolin went to their home immediately.

Once Ryan arrived, he walked the perimeter of the home. He noticed that grading was bad and was contributing to the wet crawl space. The homeowners explained that the house was custom-built on land that was used for farming for many generations. They had trusted their builder to take the proper steps to make sure the lot drained properly, but he did not. The homeowners had no idea their crawl space had been experiencing severe flooding since the day it was built since they never had any reason to venture under the house.


Ryan's inspection uncovered several factors leading to the damaged state of this crawl space. Multiple field tiles had drained into the crawl space and all 10 vents were open, which lets in air and creates a breeding ground for mold. All of the fiberglass insulation was ruined by moisture, mold and mildew, their HVAC unit was rusting, and the high pressure tank for the well had almost completely rusted through. This crawl space had become a health risk for anyone living in the home since as much as 50% of the air you breath in your home originates from the crawl space.

But don't worry, The Basement Doctor's On The Job! Ryan identified the problems and prescribed a long list of remedies. Extraction was first on the list. Once the water was removed, the entire crawlspace needed mold remediation using Anabec Disinfectant. Knowing that this homeowner wanted to make sure their crawl space was dry all of the time, our expert prescribed a drainage system, WhiteCap vapor barrier, spray foam and dehumidification.

The cleanup and installation efforts were headed by Basement Doctor Foreman, Rich Pomales. Rich and his team replaced the fiberglass insulation with closed cell spray foam in the rim joist which seals the gap between the crawl space and home.

This was followed by installing over 200 feet of drainage pipe and two sump pump systems. This collects the water that may enter the crawl space and delivers it out of the crawl space and away from the foundation.

The crawl space was then encapsulated using the WhiteCap vapor barrier system. This heavy duty liner is reinforced for durability, unlike those found in hardware stores. The vapor barrier separates the home from the earth and prevents moisture, odors, insects and other pests from entering the home.





The final step in the project was dehumidification. Our dehumidifier of choice is Santa Fe, and the model we selected was the Advance since it is designed specifically for crawlspace applications.




What was once a serious nightmare for the homeowner, is now a drier, cleaner, safer, healthier and more energy efficient crawlspace.

Bowed & Cracked Basement Walls Give Dublin, Ohio Homeowner Headaches

Located Northwest of Columbus, Dublin, Ohio actually falls within Franklin, Delaware and Union counties. Settled in 1802, this city was named after Dublin, Ireland by John Shields because it reminded him of his birthplace. Dublin is home to the headquarters of a number of large companies, including Cardinal Health, IGS Energy, Stanley Steemer, Wendy's, OCLC, Pacer International and MindLeaders.

When Wes Martin, Project Manager with The Basement Doctor, arrived at this Dublin home, it was evident that there were several areas of concern that were causing stress to these homeowners. The homeowners knew they had some cracks in their basement walls, but it was now bowing, and the wet walls started growing mold. Wes walked the outside of the home to investigate gutters, downspouts and grading, but found no indication that any of these played into the issues found below.  Once inside the basement, Wes determined that years of settling, freezing, thawing and a high water table caused the foundation issues. As you can see from the pictures, the horizontal and stair-step cracking, the bowing and mold are pretty severe.

Some foundation cracks and stair-step cracks are common in settling. However, these cracks become a problem when they get too big or allow water to enter the home. Once the water enters the block wall and works its way through the cracks, the home faces a new issue: MOLD. This picture to the right shows mold developing in the corner and the picture above shows the stains on the walls that indicate the level the water reached and stayed at for a long period of time. Now the homeowner has a number of issues that need attention immediately. The cracks are allowing water to enter the home which is causing mold to grow, and the weakened walls are now bowing and causing the foundation to weaken. This puts the structural integrity of the home in jeopardy.

Thankfully this homeowner called the right place and The Basement Doctor is On The Job! Wes has proposed The Force wall stabilizer to straighten the walls, The Anabec mold system to destroy the mold, mildew and bacteria along with Basement Doctor wall epoxy to coat, protect and seal the wall. Once this basement is repaired, the homeowners will have one less thing to worry about in their home.