Figure out the cause before the cleanup
Removing what's visible isn't the finish line -- water entry, humidity levels, material condition, containment, and a final verification all need to be part of the plan.
Put all of this in the scope
- Existing conditions and likely cause
- Preparation and protection
- Materials, compatibility, and installation details
- Permits, testing, cleanup, and restoration
- Exclusions, warranty terms, and change-order process
Warren context
Warren's housing stock filled in fast around the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant, which opened in 1941, and the General Motors Technical Center that GM built out from 1949 to 1956, leaving a dense band of 1950s-60s ranch houses and brick bungalows sitting on the flat, poorly draining clay soils of the old glacial Lake Warren plain. Because Warren's sanitary sewers were engineered around a roughly two-inch-rainfall standard and footing drains tie into those same sewers, heavier modern storms regularly back up into basements -- and a basement that stays damp for even a day or two after a backup is exactly the kind of hidden moisture that turns into a mold problem in homes built before modern vapor barriers and sump systems were standard.