Basement Waterproofing FAQ

What can I expect from a basement waterproofing estimate?

Fair­ness, hon­esty, and an easy-to-under­stand con­sul­ta­tion from the indus­try leader. An expe­ri­enced Advi­sor will assess your needs and walk you through solu­tions. This is all free of charge. For more on what to expect from a rep­utable base­ment water­proof­ing com­pa­ny, check out this arti­cle.

How long have you been in business?

We were found­ed in 1957 by Al Wein­er. He named the com­pa­ny U.S. Water­proof­ing for the pride he had in his coun­try after his mil­i­tary ser­vice. If you want to know what U.S. Water­proof­ing read about us and our sto­ry here.

Why should I fix my basement?

There are many rea­sons to repair and improve your base­ment — cre­ate a health­i­er and clean­er liv­ing envi­ron­ment; increase stor­age space; pre­vent dam­age to the area and your belong­ings; raise your prop­er­ty val­ue; avoid wast­ed hours clean­ing up after a rain; etc. Maybe above all else, though, is peace of mind. Noth­ing is more impor­tant than your fam­i­ly and their safe­ty, and when it comes to the foun­da­tion and struc­tur­al integri­ty of your home, you can’t take any chances. 

How do I pay for the work?

Cash, per­son­al checks, bank checks, mon­ey orders and deb­it and cred­it cards (Visa, Mas­ter­card, and Dis­cov­er) are all accept­ed forms of pay­ment. We also offer financ­ing pro­grams.

How long does the average job take?

U.S Water­proof­ing is a full-ser­vice water­proof­ing con­trac­tor and com­mit­ted to get­ting the job done right the first time. Many jobs, such as foun­da­tion crack repair can be com­plet­ed in one day or less, but there are excep­tions (some work may take mul­ti­ple days). We are trans­par­ent and can­did with poten­tial cus­tomers about how long we’ll take to com­plete the job, as we under­stand home­own­ers need to plan. We make every effort to min­i­mize any dis­rup­tion and inconvenience. 

What is the average repair cost?

We know this a frus­trat­ing answer to an impor­tant ques­tion, but it depends. No two hous­es are the same, and since we aim to cus­tomize our work around your home (as much as pos­si­ble), each job is dif­fer­ent. You will nev­er be charged for an esti­mate, and we always rec­om­mend the most prac­ti­cal solu­tions for your needs, even if that means direct­ing you else­where. Small­er jobs may only be a few hun­dred dol­lars (often with an added ben­e­fit of sav­ing or pre­vent­ing thou­sands spent in the future!), while more involved work can cost sig­nif­i­cant­ly more. If you get anoth­er company’s esti­mate for the same work and/​or ser­vices — an apples to apples com­par­i­son — we’ll match that price. No mat­ter the size of the job, we stand behind our work. 

What happens if the problem recurs after you do the work? Do you offer Warranties?

A war­ran­ty is only good if the com­pa­ny that offers it stays in busi­ness and hon­ors the war­ran­ty. Many of our prod­ucts and ser­vices come with a life­time trans­fer­able war­ran­ty, and if the first 65 years is any indi­ca­tion, the life of our grow­ing com­pa­ny is going to be a very long and healthy one! We have a ded­i­cat­ed war­ran­ty depart­ment that assists cus­tomers who encounter issues after a job is complete.

Will I have to wait around all day for your Basement Advisor to show up?

No. We give you a two-hour time frame for your free con­sul­ta­tion. We can also call you before we arrive. 

Should I address issues with the basement before I sell my house?

Def­i­nite­ly. Pri­or to sell­ing your home, you are required to fill out a dis­clo­sure form, which asks, among oth­er ques­tions, if you are aware of any seep­age prob­lems in your base­ment or crawl space. Most issues will like­ly be dis­cov­ered by a home inspec­tor and leav­ing prob­lems for the new own­er to fix will typ­i­cal­ly result in a low­er sale price. Fail­ure to inform the buy­er of any prob­lems can also result in a lawsuit.

My chimney is leaking. Do you offer any service to eliminate that type of problem?

We aren’t chim­ney sweeps, but if the prob­lem is below ground lev­el, we have solu­tions both from the exte­ri­or and inte­ri­or to cor­rect it. To con­firm the issue is below grade, run water from a hose on the ground near the chim­ney. If water seeps into your base­ment with­in a rea­son­able amount of time, it’s safe to assume at least part of the prob­lem is below grade. For above ground chim­ney work — the more con­ven­tion­al kind — con­tact a chim­ney build­ing and repair contractor. 

Can I fix just one small area of my house or basement?

In many cas­es, the answer is yes. Unlike some water­proof­ing con­trac­tors, we do not push you into water­proof­ing the entire base­ment if it is not nec­es­sary. We offer cus­tomized solu­tions — inte­ri­or and exte­ri­or — that fit the home and bud­get of the cus­tomer. That means our rec­om­men­da­tions cov­er work inside and out­side the house, DIY options, and short term fix­es. Some­times we’ll rec­om­mend a repair that doesn’t involve U.S. Water­proof­ing (we want your home safe, secure, dry, and struc­tural­ly sound more than we want your business). 

Do you do work in crawl spaces?

Yes. After all, a crawl space is like a mini base­ment. Many of our prod­ucts, ser­vices, and process­es used to repair and improve full-depth base­ments can also solve crawl space-relat­ed prob­lems. If we are to do any work from the inte­ri­or, we gen­er­al­ly need at least three feet of headroom.

The crawl space area should be dry, safe, func­tion­al, and acces­si­ble, and it doesn’t need to be an eye­sore. Crawl Space Encap­su­la­tion allows you to max­i­mize your crawl space.

If my basement is finished can you still fix my seepage problem?

Absolute­ly. We can often do the need­ed work from out­side the house, with no dis­rup­tion to your fin­ished base­ment. If an inside fix is called for, we make every effort to not alter the inte­ri­or fin­ish­es (if nec­es­sary, we can remove and replace studs and dry­wall, base­boards, etc.). 

Are you a franchise?

No. We are a third-gen­er­a­tion fam­i­ly-oper­at­ed busi­ness with over 500,000 dry base­ments to our name. U.S. Water­proof­ing is Chicagoland’s largest and longest run­ning base­ment water­proof­ing and foun­da­tion repair com­pa­ny. We have grown our busi­ness one sat­is­fied cus­tomer at a time. Our goal is to deliv­er peace of mind to cus­tomers through edu­ca­tion, com­pre­hen­sive solu­tions, and our wealth of expe­ri­ence. Learn more about our his­to­ry here.

Are you in good standing with the Better Business Bureau?

We have been in good stand­ing with the Bet­ter Busi­ness Bureau (BBB) for 22 years and car­ry an A+ rat­ing. U.S. Water­proof­ing has earned the Chicagoland Bet­ter Busi­ness Bureau (BBB) Torch Award for Ethics twice (2006, 2021), as well as an hon­or­able men­tion (2016). The Torch Award is the most pres­ti­gious hon­or the BBB gives out and spot­lights com­pa­nies that exem­pli­fy trust and excel­lence. Learn more about our rat­ing and com­pa­ny here.

What is the white chalky stuff on my walls?

It is like­ly efflo­res­cence, the min­er­al deposits left behind when mois­ture dries and crys­tal­lizes. Efflo­res­cence can be a sign that water in that wall is or will be prob­lem­at­ic; if you notice it, sched­ule a no-cost con­sul­ta­tion online. The good news is it’s easy to treat and remove — just apply a mix­ture of vine­gar and water. 

Can anybody be a waterproofing contractor?

Any ama­teur with a set of tools and a truck can claim to be a water­proof­ing con­trac­tor, but there is no sub­sti­tute for our expe­ri­ence and cred­i­bil­i­ty. There have been many water­proof­ing com­pa­nies come and go over the years, but only one indus­try leader. We put ser­vice first and treat each home we are in like it’s our own. More than half our busi­ness comes to us from a per­son-to-per­son rec­om­men­da­tion or from pre­vi­ous customers.

It’s impor­tant to check out a company’s reviews, tes­ti­mo­ni­als, and endorse­ments, as well read what influ­encers say. We encour­age you to do just that before doing busi­ness with us. U.S. Water­proof­ing often appears in media as a lead­ing expert on home improve­ment. We are Angi Cer­ti­fied and Best Pick Cer­ti­fied for 2021 (Best Pick Reports). We were recent­ly rec­og­nized as a Neigh­bor­hood Favorite on Nextdoor, which pro­motes local rec­om­men­da­tions. Our rep­u­ta­tion in com­mu­ni­ties and neigh­bor­hoods through­out Chicagoland is unmatched.

Can't I just pick up some materials from the hardware store and fix it myself?

You can, but you can’t buy the decades of expe­ri­ence that our crews have. Plus, many mate­ri­als found at hard­ware and big box stores pro­duce short term or inad­e­quate results. You’ll often pay more when going retail ver­sus let­ting U.S. Water­proof­ing help you get what you need. 

If I am remodeling/finishing my basement, is there anything I can do to avoid future problems?

Yes. If you are proac­tive, you are pre­ven­ta­tive. We can advise on a few basic steps to take to keep your base­ment dry, safe, healthy, and free of seep­age. Sched­ule your free con­sul­ta­tion online!

Will concrete, asphalt or brick pavers prohibit you from fixing the problem from the exterior?

It depends. We can remove any type of paving to install our sys­tems and we can replace con­crete if that’s what the work calls for, but we don’t replace asphalt or brick pavers, as that involves spe­cial­ty work. What­ev­er the job entails, we’ll rec­om­mend prac­ti­cal solu­tions tai­lored to you, your home, and your budget. 

How do I know if I have any structural problems?

We have a sep­a­rate, spe­cial­ized team of Advi­sors trained to iden­ti­fy struc­tur­al prob­lems. If they find that your foun­da­tion war­rants repair, they can pro­vide you with a free, no-oblig­a­tion estimate.

Is there preventative work that can be done to avoid big seepage issues in the future?

Yes, there is. Extend­ing your down­spouts away from the foun­da­tion, installing larg­er sized down­spouts to accom­mo­date heavy rain­falls , and clean­ing your gut­ters reg­u­lar­ly will help alle­vi­ate and avoid prob­lems. Our Advi­sors will walk you through these and oth­er pre­ven­ta­tive fix­es and repairs. Before you spend mon­ey and time try­ing to do a job your­self, you can sched­ule a free, fair, and hon­est assess­ment of the work needed.

Do you do more than just keep basements dry?

In fact, we do. U.S. Water­proof­ing offers sump pump instal­la­tion (pri­ma­ry and back­up pumps), con­crete rais­ing, down­spout replace­ment, gut­ter clean­ing, crawl space encap­su­la­tion, win­dow well upgrades, under­ground exten­sions & yard drainage, struc­tur­al foun­da­tion repair, basic car­pen­try tasks like dry­wall removal and replace­ment, and more. Always con­sul­ta­tive and solu­tions-ori­ent­ed, we guide home­own­ers in the right direc­tion, even if it means we don’t get your busi­ness. We edu­cate home­own­ers about poten­tial issues many of our cus­tomers aren’t aware of, as well as about the impor­tance of tak­ing pre­ven­ta­tive action to avoid unwant­ed prob­lems lat­er (like foun­da­tion wall cracks, struc­tur­al issues, and base­ment seep­age).