A&E Construction Extends Home Restoration Services to Ocean County NJ

Pennington Home Renovation

After Hurricane Sandy, many people in the local area suffered extensive home damage from trees, wind, and flooding. A&E Construction worked tirelessly to help homeowners and businesses in the Pennington area, while also volunteering to help set up and deliver gas generators to shore-line damaged areas. 

A&E Construction Addition

We want to officially extend our services to those in need of a builder for renovations for Ocean County homes or businesses.

If you have a residence or business that was damaged by Hurricane Sandy or if you know a friend or family member that is in need of a home restoration contractor, please contact A&E Construction to discuss your remodeling needs and see if our company would be a good fit for your project.

A&E Construction provides a wide range of home renovation services in Mercer and Ocean County including storm, flood, and fire damage. We are a whole-house, one-stop rebuilding company that specializes in large scale renovations and projects. 

Princeton Emergency Generator System

We offer design/build services for projects such as home additions as well as kitchen, bath, basement and other renovations. We work to provide customized solutions to fit your needs.

In addition to being your one stop shop for large renovations, A&E performs water remediation, and installs sump pumps and portable generator backup systems. we rebuild homes with an eye towards remedying past problems as well as preventing against future weather and storm damage. 

To read more about our emergency backup systems, read our blog post here. 

Powering Your Home with an Emergency Backup System

Emergency Generator with Transfer Switch

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those impacted by Hurricane Sandy. We hope that you and your family are safe and doing well in this time of recovery. With the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, A&E has seen a lot of damaged homes in the area and we thought it would be helpful to bring to your attention ways in which you can prepare your home from power outages and flooding.   

Because of the high demand for generators after Hurricane Sandy, we recommend buying a generator as soon as possible. An emergency backup system with a transfer switch outlet will allow you to power your primary circuits such as heat, sump pump, well pump, refrigerator, lighting, or the T.V.  

Transfer Switch System

Installing an emergency backup system with a transfer switch is safer and more convenient than running multiple extension cords around your home. Unlike with extension cords, a transfer switch system can run devices that are not connected to a cord such as heaters and well pumps. 

When your power returns, other appliances or lights that are not run through the emergency generator will turn on; thus alerting you to flip the transfer switch back to the normal position.

Transfer Switch

Transfer switches have the capacity for either 6 circuits or 10 circuits. You will also need a good portable generator that produces about 7500 watts/30 amps in order to run up to 10 circuits.

A good portable generator will cost anywhere from $800 to $1500 and can be purchased online and delivered directly to your home. A&E has already purchased some materials for installing emergency backup systems so if you need advice on selecting a generator or you would like to install a system, please contact us.

If your home is prone to drainage and flooding issues or if you are worried about flooding during future storms, a sump pump system can be an effective way to combat water problems.  With an emergency backup system, you can run your sump pump system even when you lose power. For an in-depth overview of sump pump systems, read our previous blog post on preventing flooding.  

Don't hesitate to contact A&E for information on purchasing a portable generator or if you have any questions on installing an emergency backup system or sump pump system in your home.

 

Preventing Flooding Part 2: Installing a Sump Pump

Now that you know how to search for and correct problems dealing with where water originates in your basement, we want to talk about utilizing sump pumps. If water still accumulates in your basement after you’ve addressed drainage problems, sump pumps will need to be included in your drainage strategy.

What to be Aware of Before Installing:

In order for your sump pump to work well, there must be good communication under and around the basement concrete slab.   Most houses today are currently built with crushed stone and perimeter pipe tying into the sump pit that is installed before the basement concrete slab is poured.

French Drain with 2 pipes          

Older homes often have sump pump problems because their basements do not include either open or closed perimeter drains (sometime referred to as “French Drains”).

An open French drain is simply a slot of concrete cutout to the subsoil level around the outside of the basement that routes water to the sump pit for pumping to the outside of the house. 


A closed French drain is designed the same way but may include drilling of the lower wall block to relieve water pressure.  Closed French drains are also effective because they contain corrugated plastic that captures and directs water into the trough slot.  Another non-drainage benefit of the closed French drain system is that it contains possible radon gas.

A basement without the French drain system is prone to poor drainage under the concrete slab. The concrete slabs in older basements generally lack good communication to the sump pit because they are poured directly on top of subsoil.

Photo Credit: Google Images

Setting Up your Sump Pump System:

If you have good drainage to the sump pit, we have a few steps to guide you in setting up your system.  For an emergency backup system to be effective, it requires a consistent setup throughout the system.  


A&E Construction recommends 2 submersible pumps, set at 2 levels with 2 separate discharge pipes and on 2 separate electrical circuits. Setting up your system like this can protect your basement from the many pitfalls that result in sump pump failure.

How this Works:

• Installing 2 sumps at different levels protects your house against single pump failure and doubles the pumping capacity if flooding should occur.

• Putting 2 separate discharge pipes protects against possible line blockage from snow, ice or leaves.  These pipes will also increase the water discharge volume by reducing back pressure in the case that flooding occurs and both pumps are running.

• Plugging each pump into a separate electrical circuit protects your home against electrical failure.  If your pump should fail, you run the risk that it will likely trip the circuit breaker.  Should this happen when your pumps are connected into just one circuit, you will lose both pumps, hence using a separate circuit prevents this.

• Purchasing a portable electric generator and several long extension cords are key to being able to run your pumps and refrigerator during a power outage.  The massive power outages that were caused by Hurricane Irene were a major cause of sump pump failure. A portable generator is often a better idea than a battery backup system because most battery backup systems don’t have the same longevity or amperage required to pump water for a significant amount of time.

• Once you install your sump pump, a final recommendation is contacting your home owner’s insurance company and having them add “Backup of Sewer & Drains Rider” to your policy (it’ll cost you approximately $50-$75 more each year).  This added insurance covers your house in the event that electrical power goes out and/or your sump pump fails due to some mechanical failure.  This is an especially good idea that will reduce expenses if you have a finished basement and live in a flood-prone area.

If you have any further questions on protecting your home from basement flooding or sump pump installation, feel free to comment or contact A&E Construction by phone or email.

Common Basement Flooding Causes & How to Fix Them

Many people throughout the East Coast suffered from home damage caused by Hurricane Irene last month.  Even in central New Jersey, we felt the impact as several homeowners in the Princeton and Pennington area experienced basement flooding that caused thousands of dollars in damages.

Photo Credit: Google Images

In response to this, A&E will provide solutions to basement flooding and how to take preventative measures to keep your home secured and dry in common storm and flooding events. We’ll take you through all of the necessary steps that will help you provide better drainage in your home with a guide to sump pump installation following in our next post.

Checking Your Basement’s Flooding Ability:

Most basement flooding problems are simply drainage problems on the outside of your house. Therefore, the first step is to start on the outside by checking the exterior perimeter to make sure that you have a good slope in place to direct water away from the foundation walls.  

Also check your gutters to make sure that they are not clogged and that downspouts are directed away from the house so that discharged water will flow away, rather than towards your home.

After observing the perimeter of your house, if you do note any ground depressions or water puddling near the foundation, there are 3 basic steps that you can take to correct this.

Before Basement

After Basement

How to Correct the Inflow of Water Towards your House:

1.  Rake back any mulch and then add new top soil that is tamped and sloped away from your house.

2. Install 3” of landscape plastic around the perimeter of your home.  Then rake back mulch or stone to reduce erosion (this will also add some curb appeal to the look of your home)

3. Another tip that will reduce drainage issues is to connect your down spouts with underground pipes to lower areas away from the foundation. 

If you have any further questions on protecting your home from basement flooding, feel free to comment below or contact A&E Construction.