Basements suffer water problems and water damage — it’s a fact of life. Basement waterproofing can prevent leaks from excessive rain, malfunctioning gutters, snowmelt, or even in extreme circumstances a sewer line or water main bursting near your basement. Whatever the source, water coming into your basement is a problem for a lot of different reasons, and calling upon a team of professional basement waterproofing contractors is always a good idea whenever you find excess moisture in your cellar.
Why You Need Basement Waterproofing
Your basement is underground. (If it isn’t, you have a very strange definition of ‘basement’.) The problem is that water naturally flows through the ground. Add to that the fact that generally, your home’s water heater and other water-reliant appliances reside in the basement, and you have water danger both inside and outside of your basement walls.
Ambient moisture in your basement is one thing, but if it reaches the point of standing water — even in barely-detectible amounts — you have other serious problems. Wood warping, metal rusting, mould and mildew growing, and fabric rotting is all on the agenda when that happens.
How to Find a Basement Waterproofing Team
The best time to look for basement water proofer is now. Even if you don’t think you have any problems with your basement, getting it checked over by a professional once a year (or every couple of years if you live in a dry area) is just good, proactive home ownership. You might not need the full waterproofing treatment right away, but when you do start noticing musty smells or hearing trickling in the middle of the night, you’ll be glad you have a relationship with a basement waterproofing crew.
The things to look for are fairly straightforward:
- A current license to do business as a waterproofing contractor.
- Bonded and insured workers who have the means to handle the situation if something goes pear-shaped in the middle of a job.
- A crew who can handle a variety of different waterproofing techniques. If they can’t explain to you the difference between an interior French drain, a foundation wrap, and a basic crack sealing, you probably don’t want them working in your basement.
- Of course, you want a crew that does emergency calls and has the basic emergency tools like a sump pump and hazmat suits. It’s one thing to be able to seal a basement with a few microscopic cracks; it’s another to help a client recover from a sewer main dumping straight into the cellar.
- And finally, you want a crew that is available and at a reasonable rate. There’s no point in getting to know a crew that will charge you twice as much as the other guys but only have one team on call at any time — what happens if someone else has an emergency an hour earlier on the same night?
Basement waterproofing contractors are everywhere, but that doesn’t mean they’re a dime a dozen — they perform a necessary and often quite a valuable service. Put the work in now to find the water proofers that are right for you, and you’ll be quite glad when the time comes that you need them to come over in the middle of the night.