Figured out why the Cass Avenue building kept flooding after three years

I managed a small commercial property on Cass Avenue in Detroit for three years. Every spring the basement would flood and we would spend days pumping it out. The previous guy told me it was just the water table rising. I believed him until last month when I actually traced the water line. It took me seven straight hours with a flashlight and a shovel. The water was coming from a cracked city main under the sidewalk, not the ground at all. The city fixed it in two days once I got them out there. Now I feel stupid for not checking sooner. Has anyone else wasted years fixing a problem that turned out to be something completely different?

3 comments

3 Comments

norab2114d ago

Dude I feel this in my bones. I spent two years replacing sump pumps and sealing a basement wall in my rental property only to find out it was a leaky hose bib on the outside that was just spraying water behind the siding every time it rained. Felt like a complete idiot when the plumber pointed it out in like five minutes. That previous guy definitely knew and just didn't want to deal with getting the city involved.

johnson.faith14d ago

Bet that previous guy knew all along what it really was.

jordan_webb14d ago

Yeah I actually just watched a video about this yesterday. Someone dug up old interviews with that guy and he was acting weird about the whole thing even back then. Kinda makes you wonder why nobody pressed him harder on it at the time.