Choosing a waterproofing company in Racine
The company matters more than the product it sells. This guide covers the inspection, the paperwork Wisconsin requires, and the checks you can run from your kitchen table.
What a good inspection includes
- A walk around the outside first: gutters, downspouts, the slope of the soil, window wells.
- Every basement wall looked at, not only the wet one, plus the floor seam, the floor drain and the sump.
- Questions about history: which storms, which season, what has been tried.
- A moisture meter or at least a flashlight held flat to the wall, not a glance from the stairs.
- The cause explained before any product is named.
- The smallest repair that would work offered alongside the larger one.
Be wary of a price given before the basement has been seen, and of one that is good only if you sign that evening.
What Wisconsin requires from a waterproofing seller
The state has a rule written for this trade. According to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection's fact sheet on basement waterproofing, a seller must do the following.
- Give you a written seller's analysis that describes the water problem and the specific methods and materials proposed, before the contract is final.
- Put every promise about results in writing. The state warns that many of them exclude common conditions, such as dampness on basement walls, so read what is left out.
- Advertise a method as effective only if the seller has experience with it and the trade generally recognizes it.
- Sell pressure pumping, where material is pumped into the ground outside the wall, only when an engineer's analysis supports it and you have that analysis before the sale.
If a company skips any of these, you can complain to the department's Bureau of Consumer Protection on (800) 422-7128 or at DATCPHotline@wi.gov.
Questions to put to every company
- What is causing the water, and how do you know?
- What is the smallest repair that would solve it?
- Who does the work: your own employees or a subcontractor?
- Who takes out the permits?
- What does the warranty leave out, and does it pass to the next owner?
- What is due before work starts, and what on completion?
- Can your insurer send me the certificate of insurance directly?
Look up the state credential yourself
Wisconsin requires a business to hold a Dwelling Contractor certification before it can take out a building permit on a one- or two-family house, and to have a certified Dwelling Contractor Qualifier on staff. The only exception is an owner who lives in the house and takes out the permit personally.
Search for the company by name in the Department of Safety and Professional Services' LicensE lookup. Check that the credential is active and that the business name matches the one on your contract.
Sump pumps and drain connections are plumbing. The City of Racine's sump pump program, for example, insists that whoever installs the pump and takes out the plumbing permit is a plumber licensed by the state. A plumber's license shows in the same lookup.
Get the price and the warranty on paper
The contract should name the walls or the length being treated, the materials, the pump model, where the water will be sent, who restores what, the start date and the payment stages. If something was said at the kitchen table and is not on the page, it was not promised.
A warranty is worth what its exclusions leave. Find out whether it covers a dry floor or only the replacement of parts, whether it needs annual servicing to stay valid, and what happens if the company is sold.
Choosing a company: questions
Is a longer warranty worth more?
Only if the exclusions are narrow and the company is still trading when you need it. Read what it covers before you count the years.
Should I get more than one opinion?
For anything beyond a small repair, yes. Companies favor the systems they sell. Two or three written analyses of the same basement show you where they agree.
What if two companies disagree about the cause?
Ask each to show you the evidence: where the water enters, the moisture readings, the state of the old drain. The one who can point at it is usually right. If they still disagree, an engineer or home inspector who sells no waterproofing can settle it.
Talk it through with a local company
Call and describe what the water is doing. You will speak with an independent local waterproofing company about coming out to look at your house.
For homeowners: basements, crawl spaces, sump pumps and drainage.
Call (262) 257-3901Racine Basement Waterproofing Help is a referral service, not a contractor. Calls may be recorded. Referral disclosure.