Perma-Seal Basement Systems

The first call to Perma-Seal was made on May 6th, 2013, to schedule the installation of a Super Sump Pump system (I had done my homework and knew that this system was one of the best out there: pumps, basin, lid, battery back up, you name it). The client services representative scheduled me for the first available date for an in-home consultation - June 6th. Relunctantly, I took the date and then called around to other sump pump installers rated favorably on Angie's List in the hopes of finding someone that could install a sump pump system sooner than four weeks out. Actually, four weeks was the time to wait for a Perma-Seal consolation visit; it was going to be even longer to wait for the actual installation. About two weeks later (May 21st), there was a knock at the door; it was a representative from Perma-Seal. Apparently, the mailman who learned of our family's recent basement / crawl space flooding had mentioned this to the Perma-Seal sales representative who lives in our neighborhood. How cool is that? I signed a contract that evening with the Perma-Seal rep and accepted the first-available Saturday-installation date of June 29th. The next morning, I canceled the sump pump installation I had made with an alternate contractor. The day before the installation, I was contacted by Perma-Seal to inform me of the "window" for arrival of the installers: 10am-12pm. Shortly after 10am, three men in a Perma-Seal truck drove up. After surveying the property, they quickly got to work: one in the crawl space setting the basin, placing gravel/concrete around it, and connecting the pumps/piping; the second was digging by hand the 25' trench (for the bubbler pot); and the third was a runner. The men were not bothered by my presence nor the onlooking of my two young girls, aged 4 and 7. After a few hours, the new sump pump system and drain line / bubbler pot was tested. There was a small amount of splashing where the discharge pipe exited the house and went to the underground tile. A few tweaks were made and the system was tested again (this time, no splashing). The men cleaned up any messes and took all trash/debris with them. I am happy with the work performed and would recommend the Perma-Seal Super Sump Pump system to anyone that can afford to wait for installation.

Good company if you want crakcs in your foundation repaired OR the crawl space filled with concrete. I sued them to replace a sump pump and a back up sump puump....neither lasted! Found out after I had someone else replace the primary sump pump that most likely the back up sump pump was damaged upon installation. They took forever to return a call. I think they are getting a bit too large and the customer service is suffering!

I am very disappointed that we were never contacted by this provider - Perma-Seal.

The guy comes out do do all this other work and he said he'd still do the epoxy injection but he said no warranty. So I'm like, "Why would I use you then?"

The biblical 3 day rain that we experienced a couple of months ago flooded our window wells and consequently most of our basement. We also sprung a couple of new interior foundation leaks. We had used Perma-Seal to repair interior foundation leaks twice before. Those repairs have never leaked again so we decided to call them for a consultation. Mike Olenchuk was once more the consultant and he recommended that we get new drain tiles. There was no indication in our sump pit that we even had drain tiles. He explained the procedure calmly and clearly and after much thought we decided to go ahead. Fortunately, we have overhead sewerage so don't need to worry about sewer backups. It was a big, messy, scary two day job that entailed jack-hammering open the perimeter of the basement and laying in the new tiles, which are actually pipes with holes in them. Water drains into them and is then led to the sump pit to be flushed away. The crew, led by Roberto Portillo, began work immediately after their arrival. The few existent drain tiles they discovered were broken or clogged and useless. By the end of the first day they had broken open the perimeter, and laid in the gravel and tiles. The next morning the Village inspector came and gave his approval to cement the perimeter closed. By 3:30pm on the second day, they were finished. All along the way Roberto took us into the basement and clearly explained each step of the process. It was very reassuring. Roberto expertly led his crew throughout the process and we never felt like our home was being "invaded." They did a great job of cleaning up both inside and outside. We also decided to have Perma-Seal install a new single laundry tub. I cannot say that the plumber they provided is of the same high calibre that Mike, Roberto and his crew are. He barely communicated with us except to say that he needed to turn off the house water. He took our old faucet with him which was less than a year old and never explained why it had to be replaced. Nor did he ask us if we wanted to keep our old fixture. He did not secure the two front legs of the tub to the basement floor and the pipe and fittings at the bottom of the tub leaked. We had to call our own plumber, Reuben of RB Plumbing & Sewerage, and spend another $95.00 finishing the plumbers job. Other than that we highly recommend Perma-Seal!!

When we were talking, he said he had done this much much bigger project and it was like the whole thing was so much bigger and it was like $33,000 and then he said this is like a third of what we had to do and so I kind of was expecting $10,000 to $12,000 or something like that and it ended up coming in a $20,000 so I though that was kind of misleading because I was kind of hoping for the best and honestly it was a little insulting about it because I was hoping and it's hard to explain how he insulted me but well $2,000 is a big deal to you and actually ended up being like at least $5,000 more and it's actually kind of a little insulting. I probably won't use them because of that. Even though I know that they do a good job, he seemed like he was fair and all of a sudden he wasn't. The price was not in line with what I thought he was going to come back with.

The telephone rep clearly had a job to do. He needed to make sure that all fields on his form were filled out. When I told him that I *had* to have all work done within 6 weeks, he didn't seem bothered by it - and continued his well-rehearsed script. At the end of the conversation, he offered me an appraisal date - that was AFTER my due date. He gets an A+ for ensuring that all the fields on his form were filled out - but an F for customer service.

Estimate was provided by John Roberts @ 866 837-9227 on July 11, 2012 and work was scheduled for Aug. 8, 2012 to be completed in 1 day. However, when the workers showed up they said it would take 2 days and I had to take a day off from work. The workers seemed very proficient, professional, and the work went quickly with minimum fuss or problems. After completion I checked out the crawl space and it really looked good, bright and spotless. I was thrilled that I could finally use the area for storage. The new support jacks looked great and very sturdy as my old ones had deteriorated and rusted out causing some settling. It was months later when I finally got around to moving items down there for storage. I noticed that the floor of the crawl space was very lumpy and I banged up my knees as I moved around (3 1/2 ft crawl). This seemed odd to me as the crawl floor before encapsulation was screening material (small tiny stones or rocks). The lumps in the floor were considerable and I couldn't understand why. The brochure provided mentioned that Perma-Seal would rake the floor before installing the lining. The only reason I can think of for the lumpiness is that they tried to spread around the dirt (clay) that was dug up for the footings for the support jacks (6 jacks). I really wish they would have done a better job in evening out the floor as it is a real pain (literally & figuratively) in moving around down there. I would have given them 5 stars if it were not for this particular problem. The original crawl floor might have been uneven, not to mention dirty and disgusting, unfit for storage, but it did not have huge lumps all over. There was also some minor water entry during a really bad rain storm recently, due to a spot they forgot to seal around my submersible water pump entry. I am generally happy with their work and would have them do more but I would inspect more carefully before signing off. The sump pumps have been working flawlessly and drainage to my culvert excellent without freezing during the winter months. The SaniDry system (smaller system for crawl spaces) might not be powerful enough to keep humidity below 50% during wet weather. I would recommend Perma-Seal to others but I would watch them carefully before you sign off.

One week prior to the installation, the sewer line was mapped to locate the approximate location of the pipe underground using a video camera, and the front lawn was marked to guide the job. On the day of the service, the crew arrived promptly at 9am to start excavating the hole with the Bobcat. A large liner was placed on the front lawn to collect the displaced soil during the dig. After digging the hole beside the driveway to place the underground vault, there was a slight glitch, because the sewer line (unexpectedly) was running below the driveway. Therefore, they needed to remove a 1x6 ft slab of the driveway in order to access the sewer line and correctly position the underground vault. This added some extra time to the process, since they were not expecting to cut any concrete, but it went smoothly. The installation of the dual check valves went quickly, and the plumber installed the ejector pump without any problems. Once the city inspector approved the work, the crew quickly finished the installation of the underground vault, while the electrician worked from indoors to create the electrical supply to the ejector pump. The crew had to dig an additional trench from the underground vault to the house to bury the electric line, and they were very mindful of all of the plants in the area. The clean-up was very thorough and all five members of the team were exceptional in their work ethic and professionalism. A large job completed successfully in one day!

They didn't do anything. They took our check for $3000 and we have not heard from anybody for almost week

Original installation was fine, but started to have problems with my dehumidifier, they fixed it and returned it 3x. This is attempt number 5 to have someone come out and resolve the problem. The dehumidifier is not level therefore it is constantly running, which led to high electric bill, there is now water in my crawl space that i have to clean. This whole ordeal is an inconvenience a long wait to have someone come out and fix the problem, very annoyed.

Their price was a thousand dollar more than the other company. The system that they would use wasn't any better or any worse, but I just thought I could go with the other system, pay slightly less and still get same results. Ray was awesome. I'll absolutely get an estimate from him in the future.

Robert, the man who came out was very patient to explain what needs to be done. He arrived on time and was not in a hurry. He said we need drain tiles and it will cost just over $7,000. I will answer after the work is preformed in August.

Went very well. Our rep, Frank, was very responsive and easy to work with. System has worked great so far.

The certified foundation consultant that came out was very professional and explained every detail of what he recommended and why that work was needed. The crew that came to do the work were also professional and very knowledgeable. After cleaning the original sump pump, they saw that there was no need to do the additional work originally quoted. Because they knew what they were doing, I ended up saving $1,000 because there was not need to break concrete and install a double basin. They arrived early, at 7:30am and were finished by 10:00am. I was extremely pleased with their work from start to finish.

Victor did a real clean job, as good as anyone could expect. Used top quality parts and tested the finished job.

The serviceman was assigned the job late and so arrived late. However he was fast and precise in installing the pump. The problem was resolved.

First three companies gave me cost prohibitive estimates, $1,100, $1,200 & an outrageous $5,500. Ralph Baumel of Permaseal was honest, a rare find in today's world. I highly recommend Permaseal. I am very grateful to Angie's list. The discounts on work I've had done & planning for the future by far exceed the subscription fee. Angie, thank you for helping women in particular who can be, at times, easily duped. Rosie

All of a sudden someone appeared at my house without contacting me prior. When he showed up I told them I didn't need them anymore.

We were very pleased with the salesman we worked with. He only encouraged us to buy what we needed and didn't try to sell us anything extra. Our only complaint was we had to wait about 2 months until they could come and do the work. The work was done in one day and we are very happy to have a dry basement.

Estimator arrived at my home on time. Likeable person, went thru my options and told me my quote would be emailed to me by the end of the week. I thought the initial call from Permaseal went very well, and when the estimator left I was pretty certain I was going to hire this company. A week went by, didn't receive my quote. I called, left message, and emailed. NO RESPONSE. Called, left message, emailed. Again NO RESPONSE. A week or so later I get a call, and an apology that my estimate hasn't been completed and I get asked whether or not I am going to dig out the bushes on the side of my home so PS can dig or if PS is going to do that work. I said, I'll take care of it, only because I have a sprinkler line near the dig site and PS won't take responsibility of they break my sprinkler line. (The extra work by me is fine, i don't mind some manual labor). So, another week goes by and still don't have an estimate. I email again, and tell PS that if they don't want the job its fine, but not responding back is insulting. Of course, not response back. Emailed the owner, told the owner the situation, I received my quote the same day. Pretty difficult to hire a contractor when you have to jump through hoops just to get a quote. Why some may ask did I still want to get quote? Price discovery for one, plus my friends have all used PS and had positive experiences.

They have been really busy because we had some pretty bad flooding in the last month here in our area. So, their promptness is really bad because they are very busy. Once you get your basement serviced by them, it is 20-year warrantied.

The representative was very knowledgeable, courteous, and patient. He came out after dinner hour and gave us a detail proposal with everything, including a drawing of where the cracks were and the prices. He even had a printer with him so he could give us a hard copy of the proposal right then and there. He called a few days later to follow up. We had to have the job done quickly but they had a waiting period of 2 weeks. That was the only reason that we didn't end up hiring them. We felt really bad about it but we kept recommending their service to our friends because we were so impressed.

On his first visit, Mike arrived within the time window provided. I explained the history of the house and described the seepage problem. Before ever making it into the house, Mike was evaluating the exterior walls, looking for places where water could enter the structure above the foundation and run down. This immediately set him apart from a couple other companies that came to provide estimates. Mike was happy to circle the exterior looking for issues and then we headed to the basement. On the initial visit, drywall was still up and Mike did his best to assess potential issues, but having observed a couple of cracks and settling on the exterior, he was concerned I might have foundation shifting which was not visible (as the foundation was behind the walls). He provided some options before leaving, but the details are better explained in the retelling with respect to his return visit. Once I had removed the drywall at the foundation level in the basement, Mike returned to reassess. There was no evidence of the foundation shifting, so the $6k-10k estimate for stabilizing the foundation vanished, to my relief. A couple of cracks in the foundation walls had been revealed, though. Mike assessed his previous thoughts and re-confirmed that interior drain tile would be the proper solution for managing water away from the foundation. Some water was likely coming from the cracks, but most was due to hydrostatic pressure around the foundation. He said Permaseal would seal the cracks, but just in case, drainage board would be installed to catch any water coming through or over the foundation and be directed into the drain tile. When I said that another company left me with the impression that this meant the drain tile would allow water vapor to be behind the walls, he showed me animations on his computer of how it really works (adding that I'd been poorly informed by the last company). Although some previous exterior sealing had been done by a prior owner, the seepage, Mike said, was from water coming from underground, not from the walls. He did not see a need to excavate the exterior to assess the previous work, as the drain tile would remove water from the foundation and relieve any pressure that might be forcing water through the walls from the outside. This seemed reasonable, but not 100% thorough. Excavation would be costly, though, and as the work would be guaranteed for life, he explained, should any water get through, they would come fix it. Given the cost of the interior drain tile, sump pit and pump installation, crack repairs, drainage board, and installation of the bubble pot outside was going to run over $10,000, there wasn't much financial buffer for excavation in my budget. The lifetime guarantee was key, but it's an offer I'd just assume never having to exercise. A permanently dry basement is much preferred. The financing options were very compelling, with several options available at varying interest rates and terms. These are the benefits of a big name company. Through the whole evaluation, Mike was very helpful, patient, and explained Permaseal's solutions thoroughly. He was professional and took his time, communicating a desire to offer the best possible solution and value. Although he was a salesman for the company, he knew the details of the job and did not pressure any solution on me. I appreciated his approach and was pleased with the solutions he offered. The price was, however, the highest of my 4 estimates. The financing options would have made it possible to pay for long term, but it was still very expensive.

We have used Perma-Seal on 2 occasions to install a waterproofing system in our basement. Both times there were very professional and couteous. The quality of the work was excellent and the gutter system has worked flawlessly.