From First Call to Permanently Dry
A basement waterproofing job runs through 7 stages here, and every one of them is written down before it starts. You will know the duration, the person responsible, the paperwork it produces and the price attached to it. Stage 2 decides everything after it, because a sealing problem and a pressure problem get completely different scopes and a completely different price.
The 7 Stages of an Akron Waterproofing Job
- 1
The first call, about 10 minutes
Who: office, not a call centerWe ask 5 questions on the first call. Where does the water show up, how long after rain does it appear, what are the walls made of, is a sump pump already fitted, and when can somebody be home for 45 minutes. That is enough to know whether you need an inspection this week or an emergency crew today.
- Active flooding is dispatched the same day, day or night
- A standing damp problem is booked inside 2 to 4 working days
- No deposit and no card details are taken to book anything
- 2
Free on-site diagnosis, 45 minutes
Who: a certified inspectorA waterproofing inspector takes moisture readings at 4 heights on every wall, checks the ground slope with a 4-foot level, traces each downspout to where it discharges, and runs a 20-minute hose test on the elevation you say gets wet. Photographs go with every reading. You get the findings on the spot, in the basement, not in a follow-up call.
- Moisture readings written down as numbers, not described as "damp"
- A hose test that shows water entering while you watch
- A test hole cut in the slab only where the entry point is genuinely unclear
- 3
Written scope and fixed price, inside 24 hours
Who: the inspector who stood in your basementThe quote names the material brands, the linear footage, the pump model and the discharge route, with a sketch of where each part goes. Repairs are listed most urgent first, so you can take the drainage now and leave the crawl space until spring if the budget says so. The price is held for 30 days.
- One fixed price per line, no allowances and no day rates
- Our change-order rule printed on the same page as the price
- Options ranked by urgency, with the ones you can safely postpone marked
- 4
Scheduling, utility marking and permits
Who: office and foreman togetherWe call Ohio 811 at least 2 working days before we break ground on any exterior work, and mark the interior route ourselves against the panel and the water line. Structural work goes to the City of Akron for permit before a date is confirmed. Materials land the afternoon before day one so no crew is waiting on a delivery truck in your driveway.
- Utility locates completed before any excavation begins
- Permit obtained where the work is structural, at our cost
- A start date with a 2-hour arrival window, not "sometime Monday"
- 5
Day one, protection before anything is cut
Who: 3 to 5 crew, led by a foremanNothing is cut until the basement is covered. Floor boards go down along the carry route, the stairwell doorway is sealed with taped plastic, and a negative air machine vents dust outside instead of into the house. The foreman walks the plan with you, points at the actual walls, and gives you a phone number that reaches him directly.
- Stored belongings moved by us if you cannot shift them yourself
- Sealed work zone with negative air pressure, so dust leaves the building
- Pipes, cables and gas lines marked on the slab in paint before the saw starts
- 6
The build, 2 to 4 days
Who: the same crew, start to finishA standard interior system runs in a fixed order. Cut and lift a 12-inch channel of slab, dig to footing depth, lay slotted pipe in washed stone wrapped in filter fabric, fit wall membrane down into the channel, set the sump basin and pump, run the discharge to daylight, then re-concrete and trowel the floor back. Cleanouts go in at every corner so the system can be flushed in 10 years.
- Concrete waste carried out in buckets and taken away the same day
- The floor swept and the work zone tidied every evening before the crew leaves
- One text update per day, including the days when nothing surprising happens
- 7
Water test, walkthrough and warranty registration
Who: foreman and inspector, with youWe pour 40 gallons (151 liters) into the new drain and watch the pump clear it while you stand there. Then we pull the mains plug to prove the battery backup takes over, re-take the moisture readings, and hand you the before and after numbers on paper. The warranty is signed and registered before the truck leaves your driveway.
- Flood test on the drain and a full pump cycle, witnessed by you
- Battery backup proven with the power disconnected
- Your free annual pump and drain check booked on the spot
What a 3-Day Interior Install Looks Like
Day one
- 7:30am, arrival, floor protection, plastic barriers and dust extraction set up
- 8:30am, walkthrough with you, utilities marked, saw cuts laid out in chalk
- 9:00am, slab cut and lifted along the wet elevations, waste out to the truck
- 2:00pm, trench dug to the top of the footing, footing condition photographed
- 4:30pm, sweep down, tools stacked in one corner, day-one photos sent to you
Day two
- 7:30am, sump basin set, drilled and bedded at the low point
- 9:30am, slotted pipe laid in washed stone, filter fabric wrapped and lapped
- 12:00pm, wall membrane fitted and taken down into the channel
- 2:00pm, pump, check valve and discharge line fitted and run to daylight
- 4:30pm, first water test on the bare system, before the concrete goes back
Day three
- 7:30am, stone topped up, cove joint detailed, cleanouts fitted at the corners
- 9:00am, concrete mixed and placed, floor trowelled level with the old slab
- 12:00pm, barriers down, floor vacuumed, protection lifted and removed
- 1:30pm, 40-gallon flood test and battery backup test, with you watching
- 2:30pm, moisture readings retaken, warranty signed, annual check booked
Crack repair finishes inside half a day on this same pattern. Crawl space encapsulation runs 2 to 4 days. Read what each one involves on the basement crack repair page and the crawl space encapsulation page .
6 Things We Need From You Before Day One
Clear 3 feet from the working walls
Shelving, boxes and freezers need to move away from the elevations we are cutting. Tell us if you cannot lift it and the crew moves it, at no charge, and puts it back.
Save us one parking space
The truck and the waste trailer need a spot close to the access door. On the narrow streets in Highland Square and North Hill, that is worth arranging the night before.
Leave water and one outlet available
A working outside tap and a single 15-amp outlet cover the mixer, the saw and the extraction fan. We bring our own generator when neither is available.
Tell us about the floor covering
Vinyl tile laid before 1985 can contain asbestos. Say so at the inspection and we test it before anything is cut, rather than finding out with a saw.
Plan for pets and small children
The basement door stays sealed and the front door stays open on cutting days. Cats especially need a closed room upstairs for the first morning.
Be there for 2 short windows
You need to be home for the day-one walkthrough and for the final water test. The rest of the job runs without you, on a key or a code if you prefer.
5 Things That Move Your Start Date
Any contractor who promises a date that can never move is not telling you how the work goes. These are the 5 things that genuinely shift a timeline in Akron, and how we handle each one. Freeze and thaw drives most of it, which is worth reading about in frost heaving (opens in a new tab) .
-
Access to the basement
A walk-out door adds nothing to the schedule. A 30-inch stairwell with a turn adds half a day, because every bucket of spoil and every bag of stone travels by hand.
-
Rain during exterior work
Interior drainage runs in any weather, including February. Exterior excavation stops in heavy rain, because an open trench against a foundation is worse than a wet basement.
-
What the trench uncovers
A collapsed clay tile drain or a footing poured shallower than code adds a day and a change order. We photograph it, price it, and get your sign-off before carrying on.
-
Permit review on structural work
Carbon fiber, wall anchors and pier work go through City of Akron review first. That is usually a few days, and it is the one part of the timeline we do not control.
-
The March and April queue
Snowmelt season is the busiest 8 weeks of our year. Book in that window and the wait stretches. Book a diagnosis in September and you pick your own date.
Questions About the Work Itself
No. You need to be home for 2 short windows, the day-one walkthrough at the start and the water test at the end. Between those, most homeowners go to work and leave a key or a door code.
The foreman texts a photo update at the end of each day, so you can see what changed without standing in the basement for it.
Cutting concrete makes a great deal of dust, which is why 3 controls run the whole time. The saw is wet-cut, the stairwell is sealed with taped plastic, and a negative air machine pulls the room air out through a window instead of letting it drift upstairs.
Dust upstairs is the single most common complaint about this trade. If any reaches your living space, tell the foreman and we clean it, same day.
Work stops and you get a photograph, an explanation and a price before anything else happens. Nothing is added to your bill without a signature, and the change-order rule is printed on the quote you signed at the start.
The most common finds in Akron are a caved clay tile drain outside the footing and rotted joist ends where a wall has been wet for years. Both are worth doing while the floor is already open.
Yes. Interior drainage goes in all year, and January and February are 2 of our steadiest months because the ground outside is frozen and nobody else wants the work. The slab is inside the heated envelope, so the concrete cures normally.
Exterior excavation is the part that waits for weather. If your house genuinely needs the outside dug, we will say so and book it for spring rather than fight frozen backfill.
One named foreman runs your job from the first cut to the final test, and the inspector who quoted it comes back for the walkthrough. You get the foreman’s direct number, not a scheduling line.
Every person on site is our employee. We use no subcontractors and no day labor, which is why the same faces are there on day 3 as on day 1.
You can walk on the new floor after 24 hours and put storage back after 7 days. Full cure takes 28 days, which matters only if you are laying flooring or gluing anything down to it.
Wait 30 days before sealing or painting the new slab. Coating green concrete traps the mix water underneath and the coating lifts within a year.
Book Stage 1 and Cost Yourself Nothing
The first 3 stages of this process are free, and stage 2 is where most Akron water problems get solved on paper. We will show you the readings, the entry point and the fixed price. What you do with them is up to you. Call (330) 549-8185 or email us, and we will be there inside 4 working days.