Hydrostatic pressure creates a lot of lateral force on your foundation, especially during heavy rains and areas with poor drainage. When the pressure gets too large, your foundation fractures, bows, and/or shifts, weakening the load capacity. Matters are made even worse in the winter when the groundwater freezes. Soil can also be a cause. When soil absorbs too much water, it can apply pressure against the walls which leads to cracks as well. When the ground is too dry it can also affect your foundation. Extremely dry dirt is brittle and provides very little support of your foundation, causing it to move, settle and crack. These issues are severe and should be taken seriously, as they weaken the structural integrity of your home. Trying to find permanent basement waterproofing in Chicago, IL for your home or building? Specializing in waterproofing and foundation repair, Everdry Illinois offers the best solutions for your unique situation at a competitive quote. We are so confident in our work in the Chicago area that we will even give you a Lifetime Guarantee on most of our services! Contact Everdry Illinois when you think your foundation might have issues and we will send a professional to analyze your specific situation and create a tailored strategy. Everdry Illinois is an expert basement waterproofing, foundation repair and crawl space waterproofing company that can help you with basement leaks and flooding with our waterproofing services.

Facts About Downers Grove

Downers Grove was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, a farmer who traveled to Illinois from Rutland, New York, but was originally from Vermont. Its other early settlers included the Blodgett, Curtiss, Blanchard, Stanley, Lyman, and Carpenter families. The original settlers were mostly migrants from the Northeastern United States and Northern Europe. The first schoolhouse was built in 1844. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was extended from Aurora to Chicago through Downers Grove in 1864, boosting its population. The town was incorporated in March 1873. Its somewhat unusual spelling (“Apostrophe-free since 1873”) remains a minor historical mystery. In April 1947 the wreck of a Burlington Railroad Twin Cities Zephyr passenger train killed three people, including the engineer. The streamliner struck a large tractor that had fallen from a freight train and two passenger cars crashed through a wall of the Main Street Station. The construction of two major toll roads along the village’s northern and western boundaries, I-355 in 1989 and what is now referred to as I-88 in 1958, facilitated its access to the rest of the Chicago metropolitan area. Downers Grove has developed into a bustling Chicago suburb with many diverse businesses, including the headquarters for Devry University, FTD, Ambitech Engineering Corp, Dover, Heartland Food Corporation, and HAVI Global Solutions.

According to the 2010 census, Downers Grove has a total area of 14.457 square miles (37.44 km²), of which 14.31 square miles (37.06 km²) (or 98.98%) is land and 0.147 square miles (0.38 km²) (or 1.02%) is water. Only the DuPage County communities of Bartlett, Aurora, Naperville and Bolingbrook have larger land areas. Within the town are two forest preserves: Lyman Woods and Maple Grove Forest Preserve. A small creek runs through Maple Grove forest preserve. Downers Grove has been designated a Tree City USA 28 times by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

The housing stock in Downers Grove comprises a mixture; some, generally near the center of town, date from the middle of the 19th century, but housing styles of each succeeding generation are represented. Downers Grove has witnessed one of the highest teardown rates in the Chicago area; small older residences are being demolished and replaced with much larger new houses. Teardowns have been the source of much controversy within the village. Since they occupy much more land than the original houses, rainwater that was originally absorbed by their yards is directed into neighboring yards and streets, resulting in flooding. Concerns have been expressed that teardowns reduce affordable housing in the town. Downers Grove prides itself on the presence of about 25 Sears-Roebuck Catalog Homes, built using purchased kits between 1908 and 1940. During 2006 and 2007, a movement arose to establish the 1846 Blodgett House as a museum of the Underground Railroad. The house has now been moved onto the Downers Grove Museum Campus. In 2012, the mean value of all owner-occupied housing units was $150,050 and the median value was $100,000. In 2018, the median sales price of a single-family home in Downers Grove was $382,500. This is a 1% increase from 2017 and also the highest median sales price for Downers Grove since 2008.