Basement Waterproofing in Lawrence Park

Could be foundation cracks, window wells, or grade drainage directing water toward the foundation. We identify the actual entry point.

Yes, where the site allows it and the water is genuinely coming off the slope. The dig usually happens along the uphill wall, and we plan it around mature trees, retaining walls, and the grade itself, because on a steep lot the excavated soil has to be held and stored safely until the wall is membraned and backfilled.

Yes. Before work starts we move or sheet what is in the room, seal off the work area so dust stays out of the rest of the house, and protect the flooring along the route in and out. Furnaces, water heaters, and electrical panels near the affected wall are worked around rather than disconnected wherever that can be done safely.

Yes. Every waterproofing system we install comes with a written warranty specific to that system, and the terms are explained before any work begins rather than after. The warranty sits alongside the written proposal and the photos of the finished work, which is a useful set of papers to have on file when you sell the house.

Typically within a few business days of your call. The visit covers the inside walls and floor, the exterior grading, the downspouts and window wells, and the slope of the lot, and the findings come back to you in writing together with a proposal, so nothing is priced until the cause is clear.

Watch when it shows up. If water appears shortly after a downpour starts and always in the same corner, something is carrying it there: a downspout emptying beside the wall, a window well with no working drain, a path or patio tipping toward the house, or soil that has sunk against the foundation over the decades. If it seeps along the bottom of the walls or through the floor joint, builds over days of wet weather, and peaks in spring, groundwater is the likelier cause. The first kind is usually solved outside with grading and drainage, for far less than a membrane costs.

Because the ground in Lawrence Park changes quickly. Between the ravines and the rise and fall of the streets, two houses a short walk apart can sit on different soils and at different heights relative to the water moving through them. A house halfway down a slope may be catching groundwater that passes well below a house on the flat above it. That is why we assess your lot on its own rather than copying whatever worked a few doors up.

Not by itself. A slope only calls for exterior work when water is actually travelling through the soil from uphill and striking the wall, and in that case a membrane and drainage on the uphill side stop it before it reaches the foundation. Many sloped lots are simply sending rainwater across the surface toward the house, and regrading plus moving the downspouts solves that for much less. Excavation on these lots is also constrained by mature trees protected under the city bylaw, which sometimes makes interior drainage the sensible route regardless.

On a house built in the 1920s or 1930s, very possibly. Builders of that period routinely ran downspouts into the footing drain, so every storm sends the whole roof's runoff into a pipe that was only meant to carry groundwater away. Old clay tile that has cracked, shifted, or filled with roots cannot take that volume, so it backs up and the water comes through the floor or the base of the wall. Cutting the downspouts off the drain and carrying the water well away from the house is sometimes all it takes.

Only the parts in the way, and you will know which parts before we start. Interior drainage is laid along the inside of the foundation at floor level, so the bottom of the drywall and framing comes out along the walls that need it, and the rest of the room is covered and left alone. If the finishes have been soaked more than once we will recommend removing them anyway, because mould and damp insulation behind them will not dry out on their own.