VETERAN OWNED & FAMILY OPERATED SINCE 1978 
If you thought that basement waterproofing was a boring, mundane profession and that every job was a cookie cutter of the next, think again! After being in the business for over three decades, one can come across some pretty strange situations, and basement waterproofing specialist Barry Antonelli and the Ameri-Dry team of waterproofers certainly have had their fair share. In fact, they’ll be sharing some of their many unusual – and often unbelievable – adventures in a newly launched blog called “Tales from the Basement”. Here’s the first installment.
It was a seemingly normal installation in Waldorf, Maryland. The job began like any other, but the Ameri-Dry waterproofing team would soon make a shocking discovery. The crew was busy prepping their work area in the basement, covering exposed items with tarps, hanging polyurethane to section off rooms, and moving large items away from the foundation walls. As they worked, however, they realized that they were having to pick up an awful lot of empty beer bottles and mixed drink glasses. “Must have been one hell of a party!” one technician chuckled. He couldn’t have been more right.
As the crew began moving a freezer in one of the storage rooms, one of the technicians attempted to kick a rolled up carpet out of the way. When he did, however, he heard a moan! Everyone jumped back and looked at each other in astonishment, not quite sure that they had actually heard what they thought they did. Sure it had to be just his imagination, the technician walked back over to the carpet and kicked it again. Out came another moan! Surprised and confused, the foreman instructed two of the technicians to unroll the carpet, having no idea what they would find inside. Nothing could have prepared them for what they uncovered. As they unrolled the carpet, all of a sudden, out popped a young man in his early twenties – buck naked, still reeking of alcohol, and clutching nothing other than an old floor tile. Dazed and visibly still drunk, the young man’s first words weren’t, “What happened?” or “Who are you?”, or “Where am I,” but rather, “Where’s Tina?” (As we said, it was one hell of a party!”)
After the man realized he was standing in a basement completely naked in front of a bunch of very surprised waterproofing technicians, he finally gathered enough sense to ask where his clothes were. After an unsuccessful search, one of the techs gave him a tarp to wrap himself up in. Curious, the techs asked the young man how in the world he got wrapped up in a carpet. He explained that he had thrown a party in the home the night before, thanks to his friend’s parents, who owned the home. During the party, he had hooked up with a young lady (You guessed it . . . Tina!), and one thing led to another. The two had started doing shots and playing strip poker with a box of floor tiles. While the technicians never got an explanation of how one actually plays strip poker with floor tiles, they did come to the conclusion that the man had apparently lost, and then passed out. “The guy said he remembers hearing some of his friends’ voices before totally blacking out, so he figured that Tina and his friends rolled him up in the carpet as a joke, and then totally forgot that he was there!” explained a tech.
Thankfully, there’s a happy ending to this peculiar basement waterproofing tale. The young man’s clothes were eventually found, and the technicians graciously snuck him out of the back door with no further questions asked.
The lesson learned: Never play strip poker with floor tile – or girls named Tina – unless you’re willing to bury the whole experience (and yourself) under the rug!
With over 30 years of basement waterproofing experience, Ameri-Dry offers patented, permanently dry systems that are backed by a full lifetime warranty. For more information about Ameri-Dry and Ameri-Dry Guy, visit (www.keepamericadry.com).