Greater Lansing
Basement waterproofing & wet basements
Eleven wet basements and crawl spaces are on eleven months of invoices. Two were a crack in the wall. Three came with a blocked gutter or a disconnected downspout on the same work order. Here is the order to spend money in, and when the honest answer is a dehumidifier.
What is actually wrong
Start with the number, because it is the whole argument of this page. Eleven jobs on eleven months of this company’s invoices are water in a basement or a crawl space. Two of them were a crack in the wall. Three arrived with a blocked gutter or a disconnected downspout written on the same work order.
A wet basement is a water-management problem outside the house far more often than it is a foundation problem inside it. A roof puts thousands of gallons on the ground around a house every year, and a downspout discharging at the wall is doing — on purpose, every time it rains — exactly the thing that an interior drain system costing five figures is sold to undo. That is not an argument that foundation work is never needed. It is an argument for finding out which one you have before anybody quotes a system.
There is an order to spend money in, and it is cheapest-first for once: gutters clear, downspouts extended well away from the wall, the ground sloping away for the first several feet, window wells draining and covered. Then crack sealing. Then a sump and a discharge line that actually takes water somewhere. Then — and only then, and only for some houses — an interior system. Most of the basements this company has dried out were fixed somewhere in the first two steps.
And then there is the one that gets misdiagnosed most. A cold basement wall in a Michigan July sweats, and a sweating wall looks exactly like a leaking wall. The tell is the season: a wall that is wet in August and dry in April is condensation rather than groundwater, and the fix is a dehumidifier, not a contractor. Anybody who quotes a waterproofing system for that without asking when it happens has not done the diagnosis.
Where this stops
When it is not a handyman job
This is at the top of the page rather than the bottom because getting it wrong costs you a wasted visit. Insured, and no contractor license is claimed or implied — the Michigan residential builder license is not held.
- No excavation. No digging out the outside of a foundation, no exterior membrane, no footing drains. That is heavy equipment and a licensed builder, and this company holds no residential builder license — said here rather than discovered later.
- No structural foundation repair. A wall that is bowing, a horizontal crack, a crack wider than roughly a quarter of an inch, or a crack that has moved since somebody marked it is not a sealing job. Those are a structural engineer’s call and a foundation specialist’s work, and the honest thing to do is look, say so, and stop — which is cheaper for you than a sealed crack that opens again.
- No interior drain tile systems that break the slab. They are a real product with a real place and they are a specialist install with a specialist warranty behind them.
- No tying a sump discharge into a sanitary sewer or a municipal line. That is a licensed plumber’s work and in many jurisdictions it is simply not allowed.
- Mold: inspection and surface treatment only, with remediation past small areas referred to a certified specialist. Same line as everywhere else on this site, because it is this company’s own invoice wording.
- No dry-basement warranty. The companies offering a lifetime guarantee are selling a system and the guarantee is a large part of what it costs. What happens here is a specific cause fixed for a fixed price, with what is not being fixed written down next to it.
- Radon is not this. A wet basement and a radon problem often share a cause and they are not the same test or the same fix; it goes to a certified radon measurement professional, and sealing a floor crack is not a radon mitigation.
- Septic, well and incoming-service work is a licensed trade and is named rather than absorbed.
The work itself
What actually gets done
Walk the outside of the house first — and in the rain if there is any chance of it, because a gutter overflowing at one corner is invisible in dry weather.
Gutter clearing, downspout repair, and extensions that take roof water properly away from the wall rather than to a splash block at the foundation.
Grading and splash-zone work where the ground has settled toward the house, which it does.
Basement windows and window wells: the well that has filled with soil and now funnels rain straight at the glass, drainage in the bottom of it, and covers.
Foundation crack repair and sealing from the inside, on hairline to moderate cracks in block or poured walls.
Interior masonry waterproof coating where it is genuinely the right answer, and a straight answer about when it is only going to hide the problem.
Sump pumps: replacement, float and check valve, and the discharge line — including re-routing one that is dumping water back against the house, which is more common than it sounds.
Rim joist, sill and crawl space work where that is where the water or the damp is getting in.
The repair afterwards — drywall, trim, paint — and the honest conversation about whether a basement that gets wet should be finished again at all.
Dehumidification, and telling you when that is the whole answer and there is nothing to buy from us.
This work sits inside General Repairs, which carries the invoiced price bands for the trade with the sample size printed beside every figure.
What it costs
There is no price list for this, and here is what actually decides the number.
The same three words describe a twenty-minute job and a two-day one. Rather than publish a figure that is wrong for one of them, here is what moves it — so you can work out roughly which end of it you are at before anybody comes out.
Whether anybody knows where the water is coming from. A diagnosis and a repair are two things and they are priced as two things.
Which step of the order it turns out to be. A downspout extension and an interior system are three orders of magnitude apart and both get called waterproofing.
How much digging the grade work needs, and whether there are beds, a patio or a path in the way.
Length and width of the cracks, and whether the wall is block or poured.
Whether there is a working sump and a discharge line that goes anywhere useful.
Whether the basement is finished. A stud wall and drywall over the problem has to come off before anybody can see it, and go back afterwards.
Whether mold has grown on what got wet, which is its own scope with its own limits.
How to get a real number
Somebody comes out, looks at it properly, and you get a fixed price in writing with the work set out line by line and the exclusions written down as plainly as the inclusions. Coming out to do that is not charged for, and neither is working out what is wrong. If something is found once a wall or a floor is open, it is priced as a written change order and you decide before the work carries on rather than after it is billed. Materials are supplied at cost with the receipt attached, first-time customers get 10% off labor, and labor carries a one-year craftsmanship warranty.
If this is happening right now
What to do in the next five minutes, and what happens when you ring.
Before anybody arrives
- Go outside in the next heavy rain and watch. Where the water actually goes in a storm answers more than anything you can see on a dry day, and it is free.
- Follow every downspout to its end. If it finishes within a few feet of the wall, or into a buried pipe nobody has checked in a decade, that is the first suspect and extending it is cheap enough to simply try.
- Check the grade with your eyes at ground level, not from standing up. The ground should fall away from the house for the first several feet, and settled soil next to a foundation very often does the opposite.
- Note when it is wet. Only after rain means surface water. All summer regardless of rain means condensation. Spring only means a high water table. Those are three different problems and the answer changes completely.
- Clear the window wells. A well packed with soil and leaves is a bucket aimed at a window.
- Get what matters off the floor and onto shelving, and keep a dehumidifier running in the meantime.
- If a wall is bowing, has a horizontal crack, or a crack you can get a coin into, stop and get a structural engineer rather than a waterproofing salesperson. That order matters and most people do it the other way round.
Call the business line
(517) 505-7135Answered Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00. There is no out-of-hours line and this page is not going to invent one — outside those hours, leave a message with the address and what is happening, and it is picked up in the morning.
On the call you get asked what is happening, what else in the building is affected, and whether it is still getting worse. That is how it gets decided whether this is our job at all — and if it is not, you get told that on the phone rather than after somebody has driven out.
- No trip charge
- No call-out fee or minimum
- No diagnostic fee
- No charge for a return visit
True across all 84 written quotes this company has issued. Most contractors in this market charge to turn up.
Or send the detailsWhen the right answer is not this company
- You can smell gas
- Leave the building and call the utility from outside. Not us, and not later.
- Water you cannot stop
- Your main shut-off first, then a licensed plumber. Every minute of this one costs money.
- Sewage backing up, or several fixtures at once
- A licensed plumber with a camera. That is the shared line, not a fixture, and a cable down one sink will not touch it.
- Sparking, scorching or a burning smell at an outlet or a panel
- Breaker off, and a licensed electrician. Electrical work here is repair and like-for-like replacement, and this is neither.
- No heat, or heating and cooling equipment that has failed
- A licensed mechanical contractor. That trade is not offered here at all, and knowing that in one phone call is worth more than a visit.
Questions people actually ask
Why is my basement wet?
Most often because of something outside the house rather than something wrong with the foundation. Of the eleven wet basements and crawl spaces on this company’s invoices, two were a crack in the wall and three arrived with a blocked gutter or a disconnected downspout on the same work order. A roof delivers thousands of gallons to the ground beside a house every year, and a downspout emptying at the wall does deliberately what an expensive interior system is sold to undo. The useful first question is when it gets wet: only after rain points at surface water, all summer regardless of rain points at condensation, and spring only points at the water table.
Do I need a waterproofing system or just a downspout?
That is exactly the question, and it is worth having answered by somebody who does not sell systems. The order to spend money in is gutters clear, downspouts extended well away, ground sloping away for the first several feet, window wells draining — then crack sealing, then a sump and a discharge line that goes somewhere, and only then an interior system. Most of the basements this company has dried out were fixed in the first two steps. Some houses genuinely need the system, and when yours is one of them we will say so and point you at a specialist rather than attempt it.
Can you seal a crack in my basement wall?
Hairline to moderate cracks in block or poured walls, from the inside, yes — and there is an invoiced job on the books that is exactly that. But there are cracks that must not be sealed, and knowing the difference is the valuable part: a crack that runs horizontally, one wider than about a quarter of an inch, one with the wall bowing behind it, or one that has moved since somebody marked it is a structural matter. Sealing those hides movement rather than stopping water, and the right first call is a structural engineer, not a waterproofing company.
My basement walls sweat in summer. Is that a leak?
Probably not. A cold masonry wall in a humid Michigan July condenses moisture out of the air, and a sweating wall looks just like a leaking one. The giveaway is the season and the weather: wet in August and dry in April, with no particular relationship to rain, is condensation. The fix is a dehumidifier and better air movement, which costs a fraction of anything a contractor would sell you. If somebody quotes a waterproofing system without asking when it happens, that is a quote written before the diagnosis.
Do you install interior drain tile or dig out the foundation?
Neither. Excavating the outside of a foundation, exterior membrane and footing drains are heavy equipment and a licensed builder’s work, and this company holds no residential builder license. Interior drain tile that breaks the slab is a specialist install with a specialist warranty, and it would be dishonest to take it on. What is done here is everything up to that point, which is where most wet basements are actually solved, plus a straight answer about when yours is not one of them.
Will you guarantee my basement stays dry?
No, and it is worth understanding why the companies that do are able to. A lifetime dry-basement guarantee is attached to a system, and a large part of what the system costs is the guarantee. What happens here is different: a specific cause is diagnosed and fixed for a fixed price, the work is warranted, and what is NOT being fixed is written down beside it. If the honest answer is that your house needs a guaranteed system, that is said out loud instead of sold around.
There is mold on the basement walls as well.
That is usual, and the two problems are the same problem. The line here is the one printed on this company’s own invoices: inspection and surface treatment only, with remediation past small areas referred to a certified specialist. Hard surfaces like block and concrete clean up; porous material that got wet comes out. And the growth will come back unless the water stops, which is why the water is always the first half of the quote.
What does it cost to fix a wet basement?
Anything from a downspout extension to work this company will not take on, which is why there is no rate card and why a figure over the phone would be a guess. It is set by whether anybody knows where the water is coming from, which step of the order it turns out to be, how much grade work is needed and what is in the way, the state of the cracks and the wall, whether there is a working sump and discharge, and whether a finished basement has to come apart first. Somebody comes out, walks the outside as well as the inside, and puts a fixed price in writing. Coming out is free, and if the answer is a dehumidifier you will be told that.
Book a wet basement visit
Tell us when it gets wet — only after rain, all summer regardless, or spring only — because that one answer narrows it before anybody drives out. Send photographs of the inside and of where your downspouts end up. Somebody walks the outside as well as the inside, and you get a fixed price in writing. Coming out is free, and if the answer is a dehumidifier you will be told that.