After The Rain: Buyer or Owners Beware! Your Homes Water Issues May Not Be Caused By What You Think-J. Brick Paving & Landscaping Has The Cure For Your "Not So Obvious" Water Issues.

5 month’s ago, I purchased a new ranch (1968) home in Libertyville, moving from our townhouse in Glenview. (which I still own & lease to an NFL player). We moved to be closer to my daughter’s high school (Libertyville High School) and while we knew when we’d purchased the home that we’d be updating the house, we never imagined some of the nightmare challenges that lied ahead.

After all, the basement had brand new carpeting which we took as a good sign (thinking it was a dry basement) and…the seller signed a disclosure (legal statement) claiming they were unaware of and had no currant or previous water issues. Unfortunately for us, we learned that often times, what lurks within a pretty home, even the ones with “great bones,” are issues that sellers can and will often times cover up, while passing their troubles on to the next seller.A few month’s into our purchase, we were struck with sump issues, water not being released far enough from the foundation, sewer/water backup issues, old, hidden cracks (masked under poor patch jobs by the seller) & the grand-daddy of them all, pitch problems both on the patio and back yard!

 After spending 11 and a half year’s in our wonderful townhome in Glenview, near the Glen, I was unfamiliar with “pitch.” Since than, I’ve essentially become a virtual expert on the subject. Turns out our two neighbor’s land bordering our backyard property lines have been putting unnecessary stress on my homes yard, foundation and more! When it would rain, snow or we’d have a large snow (like recently when the snow accumulated and than melted shortly thereafter with a hot 2 inches of rain), this addded stress to my yard, patio and home, however, the seller’s refusal to honestly clue us in on their “hidden issues” lying “beneath the surface,” led to flooding in our basement.

Enter Javier Huerta and Jesus Maldonado, owners and partners at J. Brick Pavers & Landscapers.They stopped by and took the time to evaluate my entire property, sort of like forenzic land & property Doctor’s! Deploying their many year’s of experience to analyse my property lines, backyard pitch, patio pitch as they relate to the grading of my foundation, they proved expert at custom trouble-shooting my home’s issues which as it turns out (all except the sewer/water backup portion) had pre-existed! Shame on the seller for not disclosing the truth and falsifying a legal document. As you could imagine, we were beside ourselves, having inherited the previous owner’s water issues, (sump not expelling appropriately away from the house, cracks that leaked, apparently poor, cheap attempts at correcting those and a cheap calk (actually glue!) job near the foundation and more.

Javier, who had started J. Brick 22 year’s prior after the Boss at the first company he’d toiled for died suddenly in a car accident, decided to strike out on his own. After successfully launching his Hardscape & Landscape business through hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence, he eventually met Jesus who brought additional skill-sets to the table, creating a successful synergy making J. Brick Paving & Landscaping one of the premier design companies on both the North Shore and Lake County. Faced with a series of dilemmas, Javier and Jesus reassured me that they could and would trouble-shoot my pitch, grading, patio and back yard concerns that were the clear culprits causing my family to inherit the nightmare troubles that the seller failed to disclose both prior to and at closing. (Seller was a no-show at closing-hmmm….conincidence?)

Having already resolved the sewer/water backup issue (sump pump switch had stuck at one point contributing to sewer/water issue, also), Javier confidently brought his landscaping crew in to dig trenches and install piping both on the side of our house and the backyard in front of our patio. The piping Javier, Jesus and his crew laid in, now took the water the sump pump was expelling off to the side of the house (that apparently was finding it’s way back) and reconfigured everything so that the underground piping caught the water and shot it out towards the front of the house through a new drain.

Next, Javier & Jesus & crew dug a trench in front of the patio, added more piping (again, a foot underground) and added 3 strategically placed drains to catch the water and re-direct the excess water right out of the area.Finally, Javier noticed that not only was excess water standing and pitching towards my foundation from my patio, but he also figured out something not even the restoration and well-known crack repair companies who stopped by with their very pricey proposals, could catch.

Turns out my front walkway was also pitching towards the house rather than away from it!

Javier and Jesus deployed their great crew and within two days, re-paved my pitch while adding a glorious new look to my back patio. Knowing that we were somewhat devastated (like I’m sure so many other families after what’s taken place with the record amounts of rain & water damage throughout Cook & Lake Counties), the J. Brick team brought their portfolio and we chose a cost-effective, beautiful solution that would both correct the issues while giving us a new “lease” on life!

We went with the Paver Patio in a gorgeous array of colors that give our ranch a Southwest look that makes our patio look like new construction-my daughter, girlfriend and parents flipped when they saw the job Javier & Jesus’s team created.

Next, they tore the old concrete out of the front walkway (see photos gallery!) and repaved using the exact same pavers to create continuity but not without first adding an extention pipe to my front downspout and burying it underground with a small green cap that is virtually unnoticeable off the front yard but effectively spits out any excess water-problems solved!

The re-cap:

One family’s basement buried underwater due to negligence and mistruth’s (not) communicated by an over-zealous seller who lied by ommission.

The Solution:

Hiring Javier Huerta & Jesus Maldonodo’s company, J. Brick Paving & Landscaping, honest, cost-effective and precise Talents who happily go about their work with smiles on their faces and a reassuring know-how that puts client concerns at ease and instills confidence for all landscaping, hardscaping and design needs.

Javier and Jesus are friendly, professional and expert trouble-shooters who know what they’re doing and will solve any of your home’s land, yard, pitch and or grading issues and get it right the first time.  Unfortunately, some landscaping companies who claim to have the knowledge to trouble-shoot these sorts of issues do not have either the proper expertise or experience to do these things right the first time. Recently, a home-buyer in Lake Forest allowed their landscaper (who claimed they knew how to correct an early pitch problem for a recent construction) failed to do the job properly which caused the buyer week’s worth of headaches. Enter Javier and Jesus: Within 3 days they resolved the issue saving the home-buyer thousands of dollars worth of future problems and stress.

For more information, contact Javier & Jesus at:

J. Brick Paving & Landscaping

Office: 847-249-5338 or

Javier’s Mobile: 847-702-9338

Jesus’s Mobile: 224-735-1604

Fax: 847-263-7917

Or catch them online at: www.jbrick.com or email them at: info@jbrick.net 

Be sure to catch J. Brick’s spokesperson, Katie Boehm on the 11am show on ABC-7 in May and watch for their news stories in The Daily Herald and Zion-Benton News.