Two rivers, a lake and a lot of clay
Polk County is in the middle of Iowa, and Des Moines is its county seat. The Des Moines River comes in from the northwest, through Saylorville Lake, and on down into the city. The Raccoon River comes in from the west and joins it downtown. The suburbs spread out from there on every side.
Under the county is the heavy clay the glaciers left. Clay does not drain well, so rain and snowmelt sit in it, right up against the foundations. Low ground near the rivers takes water first after a big storm or a fast spring melt.
Old walls in the middle, newer ones at the edges
The oldest houses in the county are near the middle of it. Des Moines has whole neighborhoods of houses from the late 1800s into the 1940s, many of them on rough stone and old brick basement walls laid in soft lime mortar. Going out from there come the concrete block basements from the middle of the century, and past those, the poured concrete walls of the newer suburbs.
Each kind of wall has its own usual trouble.
- Stone and old brick: mortar gone to sand, damp wicking through, stones working loose
- Concrete block: cracks along the joints, and walls that can bow in when wet clay pushes
- Poured concrete: cracks, the joint at the floor, pipes through the wall, window wells
- Any age of house: downspouts dumping at the wall and yards that slope toward it
Where JC Cement stands on the rest of the county
JC Cement is based in Des Moines, and Des Moines is the one town this site confirms. West Des Moines, Urbandale, Ankeny, Johnston, Altoona and Windsor Heights are all close, but none of them is confirmed here yet. If your house is in one of them, or anywhere else in the county, call or text Joe and ask. Tell him the town and send a photo of what is going on.
Permits are their own question. Each city sets its own rules, and an egress window in particular comes with size, sill height and well rules from the city. Ask your own city before a wall gets cut.