Need basement waterproofing in Scranton? We run the downtown 18503 and the surrounding 18505, 18508 and 18510 every day, up Mulberry Street into Hill Section, down into South Side, out to Green Ridge and East Mountain. Most weekday inspections get a slot inside 48 hours, often next day for actively leaking basements. You get a free on-site perimeter walk with a chalk-marked seepage map and a flat-rate written quote before we leave.
Scranton housing stock is the oldest and most varied in Lackawanna County, which makes basement water a different problem depending on the block. Hill Section between Vine Street and Mulberry has large 1890s to 1920s single-family houses on cut-stone foundations, 8 foot ceilings, with century-old iron drainage lines that cracked decades ago and dump water against the exterior wall. The Flats and South Side have rowhouses on poured and block foundations where the water is almost always pushing in through the cove joint. Green Ridge and East Mountain carry postwar block ranches on a mix of native and imported fill, many built directly over played-out shallow mine workings.
The mine subsidence under Scranton is more aggressive than in Dunmore because the workings were shallower and the Lackawanna River valley collects water from the entire basin. Downtown blocks near the river see a water table within 4 feet of the slab in a wet April. Hill Section and the East Mountain side sit higher but the old mine tunnels still re-route the groundwater on a slow timeline. Winter is punishing, 15 to 25 degrees for weeks at a stretch from December into March with 50 inches of average snow. Call us for a free Scranton basement inspection and we will diagnose honestly instead of selling an exterior dig where interior drain is the right call.
What to know about basement waterproofing in Scranton
1890s cut-stone foundations in Hill Section and the Nay Aug Park neighborhood have washed-out mortar at the cove joint and that is where water comes in. An interior perimeter drain tied to a new sump pit stops it. No amount of exterior parging does because the stones themselves are not the problem.
Scranton downtown and the Lackawanna River valley have a water table 4 to 6 feet below grade in spring. Sump pumps run constantly from March through May. Battery backup is mandatory here because PPL power cuts are routine and a 2 hour outage during a wet April is a flooded basement.
South Side rowhouses on poured concrete foundations crack vertically because the long narrow row shares one monolithic pour. Normal shrinkage cracks every 20 feet. Polyurethane injection is almost always the right call at 400 to 900 dollars a crack.
East Mountain and Minooka postwar block ranches often sit on filled-in surface strip workings. Horizontal cracks at the frost line are the signature. Carbon fiber straps plus interior drain is the standard package. We see this pattern weekly in 18505 and 18509.
Where we work in Scranton
- Lackawanna County Courthouse on Spruce Street
- Steamtown National Historic Site at the old DL&W yards
- Nay Aug Park and the Everhart Museum
- The Mall at Steamtown downtown
- Marywood University on the Dunmore border
- University of Scranton campus along Monroe Avenue
Our services in Scranton
- Basement WaterproofingBasement waterproofing in Dunmore, PA is a full interior or exterior drainage fix for wet basements over Lackawanna County mine country. We install perforated perimeter drain tile tied to a sump pit, inject foundation cracks, and seal walls with dimple board. Most residential interior systems run 5,000 to 15,000 dollars with a written price before any concrete gets saw-cut.
- Foundation Crack RepairFoundation crack repair in Dunmore, PA covers hairline and structural cracks in poured concrete and block walls across Lackawanna County. We inject polyurethane for active water leaks and epoxy for structural cracks, with carbon fiber reinforcement where the wall is bowing. Typical cracks run 400 to 1,500 dollars per crack and most finish in a single morning.
- French Drain InstallationFrench drain installation in Dunmore, PA covers both interior perimeter systems installed under the basement slab and exterior yard systems installed outside the foundation footing. We trench, bed 3 inch or 4 inch perforated pipe in washed stone, and tie it to a sump pit or a daylight discharge. Most jobs run 3,500 to 15,000 dollars depending on linear footage and interior versus exterior placement.
- Sump Pump Installation and RepairSump pump installation and repair in Dunmore, PA covers primary AC pumps, DC battery backup pumps, water-powered backup pumps, pit rebuilds and discharge line fixes. We work Zoeller, Liberty and Wayne cast-iron pumps over Lackawanna County mine country where PPL power cuts and frozen discharges are the two most common failures. Most pumps run 600 to 2,500 dollars installed.
- Egress Window InstallationEgress window installation in Dunmore, PA is the full code-compliant basement bedroom window package, from the exterior well excavation through the foundation wall cutout to the finished interior trim. We install Boman Kemp and Rockwell steel wells with ladders, and we pull the permit through Dunmore Borough or Scranton for you. Most installs run 3,000 to 6,000 dollars complete.
- Crawl Space EncapsulationCrawl space encapsulation in Dunmore, PA is a full enclosure of the dirt floor and walls with a 20 mil reinforced vapor barrier, foam insulation on the perimeter rim joist, a dedicated commercial dehumidifier and a tied-in drainage system. We work the half-houses and additions over Lackawanna County coal country where crawl space moisture rots joists in under a decade. Most jobs run 5,500 to 14,000 dollars.