Ralphyboy

Does anyone know of someone in north jersey that does waterproofing of basements? I need someone professional, reliable, and reasonable too.

SpeedRacerGirl

Ralph,
So sorry to hear that rally can suck. Hope its not too bad and you dont have mold damage or anything!

I havent personally used these people as we dont have the need but I know a few people who have and they do pretty good work, with a great warranty/guarantee. Good Luck to you

http://www.basements.com/

Ralphyboy

It's really not that bad of a situation. I did some re-grading outside, and fixed some gutters, and have the drain pipes going away from the house. It only happens with "really heavy rains", and even then, it is only enough for a small shop vac to handle, and that is only about half full. Maybe its a total of a few gallons at most. I just don't want to have 'any water "getting in. I got one price already, and I'm looking for more estimates. BTW, I heard alot of bad things about the place you mentioned here, but that was only second hand reports, so I can't be sure how accurate that was. The one estimate I have is from someone local, and they did work for friends, and it was excellent. I'm just too old to do this stuff myself.

SpeedRacerGirl

well I still wish you luck, like I said I dont know cause I havent used them just know from what a couple people who have, have said.

mikeg826

We used a franchise of B-Dry systems, and was nothing but headaches - not sure if it was due to the sleazy franchisee or the actual company in general. Seeing what is done, the bulk of the $$ is the labor. If you can get some friends together, I don't see why you can't install the french drain yourself.

>mike

Ikester

As long as the vette is safe and sound nothing else matters

Humanoid 2.0

Look up places on the BBB web site.

Ralphyboy

It's funny because i heard bad things about the place Kim mentioned, and I was going to call a place that does Bdry systems near me in NJ.

I checked the BBB for lists of complaints against these places, and Bdry seemed better.

I know what it takes to do this, which is why I won't do it myself. First you have to chop out the floor, and my basement has a 6" thick slab which is thicker than normal. Then you have to haul all that concrete out, and install the drains, drill the weep holes in the block, and repour the concrete to replace what was removed. No thank you.

Humanoid 2.0

I heard about this site but never used it, check it out and let us know >>> http://www.angieslist.com/angieslist/

Or you can always get a few German guys with guns to get Frenchmen to do it for you for free

JVM225

I think it all depends on the method they use.
I had a problem when I first moved in to this house 15 years ago. We would get a bucket or two in a really heavy rain. The old owner did a half *** job from the inside.
I found a company that took care of it for me and haven't had any more problems since.
The trick is to stop it from coming in. Some companies put a perimeter system inside the basement. The problem with that is the water still comes in.
The guy who did mine told me that 99% of the time the leak is in the vicinity of a basement window. It comes from the house settling. That's where mine was. They dug down to the footing. Put in a perforated pipe along the footing surrounded by rocks for drainage. Found the crack running down vertically from the window. Cleaned it out, filled it, patched it, covered it with tar, and attatched some membrane board to it.
They filled the hole back in and ran a drain down the inside of the dry well to the system alongside the footing.
It took three guys the better part of a day to do. Cost about a thousand bucks at the time.
Fifteen years later and not a drop.
A friend I worked with used the same people about a few years after I did. They did the same type job for him, and he hasn't had another problem since then either.
They were a local Long Island company.
I would call a few companies, have them come over and give you an estimate, and tell you what they intend to do.
If they start talking about doing it from the inside, move on to the next one.

Ralphyboy

You have to sign up, and I think there is a fee to get on Angie's list.

As far as the rest of your post, I can only say, WTF ARE YOU SMOKING DUDE?

Ralphyboy

I am a bit reluctant to do this because the problem area is the whole front of my home, and it would require removing all the landscaping, and major excavating to do this. A french drain system is what just about every one of my neighbors has, and it works well for them. The woman next to me had her basement done about two years ago, and I'm going to try to contact that compnay.The Bdry system has some sort of additional interior coating with the french drains from what i understand. I plan on calling them to see what they have to say.
Thanks for all the input folks.

Rex Ruby

I just installed a perimeter system for a customer that is like a hollow baseboard that directs any water to a sump. Customer specified that system. I don't like it. I would have rather seen a french drain into sumps but customer didn't want to pay what my price was for that. If you have cinder block basement walls best thing to do is an exterior system that seals the exterior.

6SPD98

I admire you for fixing a problem that someone else would say, "let the next guy worry about it"
Says something about your character
I think....

Ralphyboy

I do have cinderblock walls ( house was built in mid 1940's). I have seen the system you refer to, which stays above the floor, and i agree, I'm not impressed with it. There are too many chances for it to leak since it's only glued to the floor.
However, the price that I'm looking at is about $5000 or so rather than what I would estimate to be well over $10,000 for the exterior work. I'm willing to do the job, but not at that expense. As I said, it's only an issue with "very heavy rains", and even then, it only amounts to using a shop vac, and not even filling it up.


BTW, thanks for the nice comment Bob.

After I demoed my bathroom last year, with all the old tile, tub, and wire lath, I realize that it's more than I want to get into to do this myself. That job turned out really well, but this is way more work for one person. I'll keep looking for the right company.

MCSSLT1

I'm not sure who can install it for you out your way but the B-Dry system really works great. My grandparents house always used to get water on bad rain storms. Half of the basement was finished so every time they did get water carpets got ruined, etc etc. They installed the B-dry system at least 10 years ago now. It might have even been longer than that now. Either way they have not gotten any water in their basement since.

Humanoid 2.0

Just drive by the home depot to get some help and say mucho dinero por mucho trabajo

SpeedRacerGirl

I have been trying to avoid saying this for sometimes the word itseld conjurs up mayham.. but seriously... ANY water is too much and cause ...... mold. You dont want to mess with Mold, and or god forbid mold abatement. Get it done and good luck to you.

SpeedRacerGirl

Humanoid 2.0

The house i am in now is 44 years old. When my grandparents got it they got water in the basement. they did the French drain thing, but they also dug around the outside of the foundation to also do water proofing on the outside. Not a drop of water since then in 43 years.
Done right done once.