One of the things that I have found helpful in my professional career over the years is discovering what I am really good at and going ‘all in’ on those items and discovering what I am not so good at and learning to comfortably acquiesce to others whose acumen may be a bit more developed in those arenas.
The PERFECT example of this would be water leaking THROUGH someone’s home because of some type of above ground issue with the actual house vs. water leaking INTO someone’s home because of something having to do with some type of groundwater issue.
I have come to the realization that if someone has some type of mysterious roof leak or water staining on a ceiling or something of that nature – I AM YOUR GUY!!!
On the other hand, if someone has water leaking into their basement from someplace around the home or due to a high water table, etc., I am probably NOT your guy.
Unless it is something which I can quickly recognize (i.e. – a dysfunctional gutter system or something along those lines), groundwater challenges could have something to do with the grading around the home, water coming into the property from a neighbor’s property, or the like.
Water that is infiltrating your home from a ground source can be particularly tricky to formulate a diagnosis for and an accompanying solution to.
As with other areas of the home, sometimes water that is making its way into your home from the ground can stem from one central issue or a combination of issues.
For some reason, groundwater coming into basements and the like has been a condition that is overly challenging for me personally to help solve.
If it is a leaking bulkhead, no problem.
A situation where water is coming right through someone’s foundation floor, however, is much more difficult for me.
Although these scenarios are ones that I myself may not have the exact cure for, I am fairly proficient at being able to refer the correct folks to help solve these specific types of mysteries.
I am extraordinarily fortunate that the network of experts I have surrounded myself with over the years is quite deep and there are a variety of professionals that I lean on in situations like these.
These professionals are very knowledgeable about groundwater and how it makes its way into the home.
Whereas I may be a good referral for someone whose chimney flashing appears to be leaking, these types of tradespeople are invaluable in the way that groundwater tends to travel and come to show its face on the inside of one’s property.
While I love working through dilemmas which are centralized from a leaking flashing, roof, or pipe issue, I get queasy when performing an investigation and I surmise that the moisture culprit is stemming from these issues which I admittedly have much less knowledge about.
Fortunately, the connections that I have been blessed to have over the years within the industry have helped a large number of people solve some seemingly very mysterious problems, even if I have not directly been able to resolve them myself!
