Menting Masonry & Waterproofing Inc

The work took two days. The price was almost 1/3 less than a competitor bid. They installed a French drain system and a sump pump. The other bid was for the glue on drain system which is actually not allowed in some areas and is not the better solution. There is a very good warranty on their work. The workers were very professional and skilled. I would highly recommend this company!

The job went very well. When we contacted the company initially, a representative came to our house and explained what was needed, how the problem would be addressed, and answered all our questions. On the day of the job, the workers who came were polite and professional, worked hard and finished in a timely fashion, and cleaned the worksite so thoroughly that, except for the new concrete poured, you wouldn't have known they were there. We can't recommend this company and its employees highly enough.

We were very happy with the work that Menting Masonry completed for us.  Our first contact with this company was ten years ago.  We asked them for a bid on basement waterproofing.  They gave us the bid as requested, but also did a thorough examination of the outside of the home.  They recommended we get new gutters and supplied us with a name - Superior Gutters.  They did a fantastic job at a great price, and it did cut down on the trouble we were having frequently getting wet in the basement as well as flooding our sidewalk.  The drain spout was relocated to the opposite side of the house and it greatly alleviated our issue of the sidewalk filling up and channeling into our basement.

We still got water in our basement occasionally on very heavy rains so I called them back for another estimate. The original sump pump was dumping into the house drain - a big "No" and completely useless when heavy rains back up the sewer drain lines.  The bid was reasonable, but more than we could afford at the time.  We started working on saving up to do the work.  I called back in a couple of years when we had the cash to do the project.  The friendly,organized, professional office manager, Shawn, still had the original bids, and put us on the schedule 6 months out.  An unexpected financial emergency had us in a pinch and I called to reschedule.  Shawn again accommodated us by putting us on the first available opening - 11 months out.  This was just enough time for us to reach our savings goals again and I was very impressed by her forethought to put us on the schedule right away.  I had planned on just calling back when we had the cash saved up again - that would have delayed us another several months to a year!  Their services are in high demand because they do quality work at a good price.

Along with pointing out the incorrectly draining of our sump pump to the floor drain, Marlin, the project bidder, also pointed out that our utility bathroom and wash machine dumped to the floor drain. This is against code also and would create problems selling the home in the future.  He recommended that we get bids from a plumber to do the floor drain piping at the time of breaking up concrete for the trenches.  He also noted that we had a condensate line from the air conditioner on the furnace unit snaked across the basement floor to the floor drain and offered a thought that they could channel an underground route to the outer trench leading to the sump pump.  All of this forethought and overall project ownership from the time of bid!  This allowed us to save up and have cash on hand and preferred contractors at time of demolition/construction.

As for the exterior of the house, he noted that we had tied the gutter downspouts underground into pop-up drains.  He noted that he is not a fan of those and that there was a large potential for future issues and reccomended to tie the drains spouts into the sump pump discharge.

Throughout the project, the work crew showed up early, were friendly, and professional, and did their best to keep the dirty job to a minimal mess.  Make no mistake - it is messy and the work site is not cleaned off entirely every day. However, they do stack the tools neatly to the side at the end of the day.  They also removed our floor mats, hung them on the fence, and put down plastic sheet to collect some of the dirt.  They warned us ahead of time that it would be messy and recommended that we cover anything in plastic sheeting that we couldn't just wipe down. 

The biggest benefit was that the project lead for Menting Masonry, Marlin Schaub, took it upon himself to really manage the overall project in our absence as we were at work during their labor.

Not only did he know that it would be beneficial to include additional projects to save cost, time, and energy at the time of bid, but he also had a good, working knowledge of the overall scope of the project during execution - when things really come up!

He saved us three times on the plumbing aspects of the project:

1. He noticed that the drain pipe from the kitchen sink had a hairline fracture.  At the time of breaking out the concrete around that piping, my husband was home and had just drained the sink from washing the dishes.  He noticed a few soapy bubbles and a slight dampness in the area.  The drain pipe was original black iron pipe to the 1930's house.  There was no signs of damage above ground.  That could have been a real issue later on - especially since we would have had to break up the brand new floor and walls to repair it.  Not to mention that it would be quite wet and a real issue before we would have noticed a slow drip underground.  He even took it upon himself to communicate that with the plumber, who quickly agreed to replace it while he was there to work on the bathroom drain pipe.


2. The original floor drain was deep set and in the way of his floor trench straight line.  He bought the floor drain and worked it out with the plumber to have that replaced as well after okaying it with us.  The overall result is a much more functional space with no large hole in the center of the room - as well as again eliminating a probable future leak in the corroded  original floor pipe.  We also now have the recommended check valve in the floor drain that the original piping lacked.


3. The plumber miss-measured the dimensions for the bathroom fixture drain piping and they were set up 1-1/4" too high.  I would have never known that by eye and was not knowledgeable enough to know that the result of that would have been an uneven lump in the newly poured concrete floor.  Marlin noticed it, brought it to my husbands' attention, asked his preferred route, and then even called and communicated the error and the necessary changes and the timeline to the plumber.  It was fixed, inspected and poured nice and level by the end.  This is especially important because we plan on mounting a floating vanity in there.  A bumpy, wavy floor would not have been the point of gutting the utility bathroom and upgrading it for functionality and aesthetics.

There is no value I can place on having a good, knowledgeable, consciousness contractor watching over the project as the work proceeds.  These small nuances, which were barely a blip on our radar could have been major headaches, hassles, and frustrations for years to come.  It truly is invaluable.

Marlin had a good working rapport with his staff and with his clients.  Shawn runs the books, scheduling, and communications in the office.  Her organizational skills are exceptional.  Marlin had her call to communicate an issue that they had on site to let us know before we even got home that they had run into an issue with the concrete finishing and there wasn't enough time in the day to correct it because they needed to mix more concrete - but not to worry - they knew there was an issue and they would fix it in the morning.  I really appreciated the preemptive communication.  There is nothing worse than coming home and thinking - "They aren't going to do it like THAT?! are they?"  and then having to stew about it all night.

The crew finished up the outside drain tiling on the last day, Friday.  By noon, they had communicated with us that they would be working late to finish up the project.  They had to work late into the evening, but kept on it until it was finished.  I am not sure what time they wrapped up, but we left the house at 6:00pm and when we got home at 9:00 the job was finished and they had cleaned up their tools, and swept and hosed down the outside area.  We did  the majority of the sweeping, wiping and mopping to clean the interior, but we had ex

The initial consultation was great! They came highly recommended by a number of people. We dealt with water problems for over 25 years and were certain we would never be able to enjoy a dry basement again but they proved us wrong!! They waterproofed our basement, braced the walls and gave us recommendation on trenching our yard and putting on larger gutters to prevent any overflow problems. The guys were a joy to work with and we looked forward to seeing them every day and missed them when the work was done! We are now enjoying a dry basement and are able to have a family room with no problems!!! We will definitely recommend them to everyone!!

Great!  Lived here for 37 years with ongoing water issues.  Not worried about water anymore.  Obviously, I wish I had discovered these guys years ago.  They absolutely know what they are doing.  Could not recommend them highly enough.  The crew were wonderful.....they approached things as not just another job to do but as a problem to solve.  
They came again in July to dig a trench to alleviate runoff from the house above as well.  No more standing water in the yard anymore!

Did an outstanding job and did an excellent job of matching new brick to old. Had another bid for the job that was more than twice as expensive and would have taken 3 days compared to the 1 day using 3 people. Very satisfied. Have used them previously for chimney brickwork and was also very satisfied. Only downside was a 2 and a half month wait due to their volume of work load.

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Everything was installed properly and I have had no problems....

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They were very prompt in responding for my request for an estimate.  They are going to repair the brickwork on three sides of a screened porch.  He was very professional and friendly.  He even told me what caused the problem and how to prevent it in the future.  He said they were booked out months in advance, but the person in the office found a time in mid-June for me.  So far I am very pleased with this faze of the project.  I thought the estimate was reasonable. I will leave another review when the work is completed.

Good.

They dug a pit in the backyard for the drainage from sump pump. They were wonderful and very helpful throughout the entire process.

Menting came to our rescue in April 2013.  Our sump pump failed after a big flood. (In actuality the pump had been installed incorrectly by WRS - but this is another story).   Menting installed a new pump within an hour or two of my call despite a very busy day.  We had used them for tuck pointing the previous year - so I suspect our previous relationship helped.  My impression is that this company takes care of it's customers.  After the chaos settled I asked Menting to come in again to assess other problems that had existed since WRS waterproofed our basement in 2010.  Our house was built in 1928, so I wasn't sure that complete waterproofing was possible.  WRS felt I was asking too much when I wanted the storage area under our sun porch to remain dry in all types of weather. Their attempt at waterproofing resulted in puddles of water in our basement after large downpours and moist floors after lighter rain.  I asked Menting for a second opinion and I am very happy with the job they did.
Mike Menting, the owner, is practical and direct.  He is very knowledgeable and his first comment was that he would have used a different system entirely.  (I don't know enough about different systems to give more details. I point out this detail only to say he knows his business). He then gave some practical tips to try before he did any work on the house.  This included redirecting water away in a couple of spots with downspouts - a nice FREE suggestion.  This helped, but didn't take care of the problem. Therefore, I asked him to do what he felt was needed to correct the problem.  Drainage tile was installed under an interior cinder block wall that attached to the exterior wall. He also corrected the point at which the sump pump water drained from the house.  The outlet was too small and located below the drainpipe that took water away from the house. (Did I mention that WRS installed that sump pump?).  It was a one day intervention and the problem was solved.  The waterproofing was done in summer 2013 and despite a couple of huge downpours our basement remains bone dry.  I wish we had used Menting when we initially took on waterproofing our basement. - it would have saved us thousands of dollars.  
The break down of cost is as follows:
Sump pump replacement: $250
Drain Tile: $100
Fix where the pump drains out: $100 (I can't find my receipt - so please excuse my lack of technical terms!)

The crew worked steadily - would stop & answer questions if I had them. Cleaned up when finished. Work was done in 1 day.

The first company that came out really frightened me, but I trust Menting and am going with their analysis of my foundation. They have done a great job for me both times I've used them and I will continue to use them in the future if I need to.

They arrived on time and immediately began preparing the area they were to start working in. The owner explained everything they were to do right down to the most minute detail. They answered every question I asked in detail. I can honestly say they the workers and the owner were the most professional and courtious people I have ever had the pleasure to deal with. By Tuesday, they had completed 2/3 rds of the job which amazed me. They took their breaks and lunch, but when it came to work they worked and worked hard.  By Wednesday at noon, they were waiting on the city inspector to arrive so they could complete the work. They completed the job before the estimated time of Thursday afternoon. I would not hesitate to recommend them and would do so proudly.

Met all of our expectations.  We are very satisfied.

Couldn't be happier with the experience. Very knowledgable team, estimate was right on the money. Most importantly, the exterior changes mean no more water in my basement. Plus, when I asked for odd an end fixes (patching of masonry columns on the front porch as well as in areas of the basement) they were more than accommodating and did a great job. 
And did I mention, my new patio looks great.
Great crew, true to their estimate and wonderful work. What more can I say?

It was as if nothing ever happened.  My basement is quiet and dry.  It is a great sump pump.  The yard looks like nothing ever was isntalled.  They did work for my parents 20 years ago also and everything they did is still working.  I can't say enough about them.