Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Delaware County, PA (Delco"") and the surrounding Philadelphia Metro Region.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Dave Linn Cook: Delco's Weatherproofing Whisperer Finds Problems and Delivers Solutions
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Dave Linn Cook: Delco's Weatherproofing Whisperer Solves Problems with Solutions
Ever wonder how a maestro of moisture battles the relentless foe of home humidity? Meet Dave Linn Cook, Delaware County PA's own Weatherproofing Whisperer who stops by the Good Neighbor Podcast for an interview with Host Bob Blaisse. In this episode, Bob breaks out secrets of Dave’s 40-plus years in the arena of providing homeowners waterproofing and home humidity consulting with solutions.
With a nose for dampness and an unbiased approach to honest diagnosis, David Linn Cook has made a name for himself in Delaware County (Delco) and beyond, for his team of basement waterproofing professionals selected by his firm: Weatherproofing Plus. And his trusted local name has made Dave a legendary ally for homeowners, and even other waterproofing professionals stumped in finding the cause of stubborn leaks and moisture issues that defy understanding.
In this episode, you'll hear Dave's tales of triumph over trickle which are not just enlightening, but downright inspirational for anyone facing their own domestic dampness dilemmas in need of an honest contractor. As the conversation unfolds, Dave chronicles his journey from a young enthusiast to a seasoned expert, sharing the joy he still discovers in helping homeowners resolve their household humidity headaches as he has been doing since 1979. But this interview isn't just a chat about plugging leaks; it's a dive into the craft of weatherproofing practices with mission-driven ethos and satisfaction gleaned from providing real, lasting weatherproofing solutions. Whether you're a Delco local, or a listener from afar, this episode will demystify the art of weatherproofing and leave you with the cozy feeling of a dry, comfortable basement because Delco's Waterproofing Whisperer, David Linn Cook is a Good Neighbor Business Owner providing weatherproofing solutions and free neighborly advice which is only a phone call or email away.
Weatherproofing Plus
David Linn Cook
Tel. 610-325-0596
Email: DavidLCook34@gmail.com
--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
Hello, delco. This is Michael Barkan, welcoming you to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host Bob Lacey.
Speaker 2And what a great episode we have today on the Good Neighbor Podcast. We're coming to you today from Delaware County, pennsylvania. It's the county that is in the southeast corner of the state of Pennsylvania, bordering the state of Delaware and with Philadelphia just to the north. We're commonly known as Delco here in Delaware County and that phrase is getting national attention because of the great things that come out of Delaware County, pennsylvania. Today we have a legend from Delaware County, a good neighbor business legend, mr Dave Cook will be joining us. David Lynn Cook from his company Weatherproofing Plus. It's a group of basement waterproofing professionals that are brought to you by Weatherproofing Plus, professionals that are brought to you by Weatherproofing Plus, and David Cook has been this kind of weatherproofing basement waterproofing legend in Delaware County for many, many years. Let me bring David to the stage here and say hello, david, and thank you for joining us here on the Good Neighbor podcast.
Speaker 3Good morning Bob. Thanks for having me on here. It's great to have you, dave.
Speaker 2Dave, you are a legend in Delaware County. I've heard businesses talk about you as kind of a savant, as it were, when it comes to actually finding leaks and knowing why basements are leaking, walls are leaking while there's dampness, and in different parts of attics and such, I had one person actually tell me that you can smell humidity.
Speaker 3Is that true, dave, or was that just a part of the legend? That is most definitely true. You can smell dampness, you can sense dampness in the air.
Speaker 2Yes, Dave, you're known in Delaware County for being the go-to guy for weatherproofing parts of your home, not just basements. But when I say you're known for this, you're actually the go-to weatherproofing professional that other weatherproofing and waterproofing basement contractors go to when they're stymied with. We can't figure this one out. What has made you that phenomenal legend in Delaware County? Is it just many, many years of being in this work?
Speaker 3the source problem and not prejudicing myself on whether I want to do stucco work or French drains or anything else. I want to control humidity and make spaces usable.
Speaker 2Dave, when you said not wanting to force solutions, I think it was the way you were getting at that. Are you saying that sometimes it's a concern that homeowners or business owners might have that when they know they have a problem but they don't know what the problem is, that a weatherproofing company or waterproofing company might come in and just want to slap on a solution that they think could help or this is the best thing for them to do? And I think you're saying that you're operating kind of differently, where you actually use the word where I can help and it sounds like you have mission to your work.
Speaker 3I really want to emphasize that I want to be like a referee neutral in what team wins or what I'm going to do. I want to just clearly get the history, look inside and outside, and then figure out what omission or defect is there and then prioritize the top five of those defects and omissions.
Speaker 2We're speaking with David Lynn Cook of Weatherproofing Plus. It's a Delaware County business, but really a Delaware County legend. He and his other basement waterproofing professionals have been serving the homeowners of Delaware County and beyond for how many years now, Dave?
Speaker 3I started in 1979. I uh living in west town area and then I grew up in springfield. So I've been doing this my whole adult life as an estimator, since I was 24 years old.
Speaker 3Well, you've met a lot of homeowners in those years, I'm sure yes, and my great joy in my profession is seeing the joy of customers when they finally figure out what is the problem and not different techniques, what they presumed was the problem, because I'm not going to promote any system. I'm clearly going to be a home inspector that does humidity control and basement waterproofing. So that's the joy of seeing these, one by one, eliminate these problems and move on to the next dilemma.
Speaker 2So by example, dave, a homeowner could be seeing water in the corner of their basement and I'm imagining that a homeowner might say I probably have a leak in my foundation or something where it's coming up through the floor, through the walls. And you're already starting on the outside of the house trying to figure out what's going on, and sometimes you're actually seeing the problem far different than a homeowner would.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's really about focusing on maintenance-related issues. This idea I knock on the door and they already want the French rain or sump pump as if that's the only solution. We have multiple techniques to control water seepage into the house and certainly property maintenance is the general theme that is very cost effective and procedures that homeowners can participate where they don't need professional to do certain tasks. We do not want water in the house and we have to look at sump pumps and drains as the emergency backup, not the everyday occurrence, because there's just too much humidity if it's occurring every week or month.
Speaker 2I'm sure our listeners can hear why Dave Cook is really known as a legend in Delaware County for his ability to be the detective for humidity. Dave, I have to imagine now the way that you've spoken about how you would go into a situation and be eyes open, really smelling, seeing, listening for leaks and trying to figure out where the leaks are, what's happening, what's causing humidity. I hesitate to go here, but sometimes we run into contractors who might see a problem and say the best thing that we can do is fix your rain gutters or something that has an immediate look of fixing, but it's really not fixing the problem, it's just maybe a good contractor job.
Speaker 3When I started under my own name in 1990 doing basement warden, already working for a firm for five plus years, I realized After doing this for five, ten years dehumidifiers are not part of the solution. Most 90%, most people have central air or some air conditioning, running dehumidifiers, like I saw this week at 48 degrees and pouring rain. That's not a proper application of the tool of a dehumidifier. Humidity control is a composite of doing a whole orchestra of events that give you a dry basement no matter what happens. Proper ventilation, proper grading, proper gutters, proper downspout expenses All these things backed up with good sealed walls, good encapsulated floors and proper sump pumps and discharge of the water so it doesn't refluent back into the home.
Speaker 2Dave, that's a lot. I mean. It goes to show that you're willing to kind of share information with homeowners before creating a contract with them. Are there times, dave, where you walk into a situation in someone's home and, after looking around and watching and listening and thinking, you're going to them and saying there's your problem, your garden hose is leaking or your dirt is washed away from the foundation, or something that you're basically walking away and saying to the homeowner you can fix this.
Speaker 3I don't need to fix this when you've done 3,000 basements and looked at 10,000 jobs and maybe 1,000 or 2 gutters and grading jobs. I insist on doing winter inspections and I have two classic stories. One was a tree fell down and that was the source why the new heating system didn't work. The tree had smashed into the guest quarters of the home. The senior homeowner didn't know. And other times where I have seen hoses running outside in the middle of January causing a massive you know corner seam rupture, and I get more thrill out of saying that's all it is knowing their family, people that need help. And it's a simple solution. They don't need me to redo the whole basement and that's the joy that keeps me going those maybe 30% of jobs. They need no work. They just need me to identify some maintenance techniques.
Speaker 2They need to do. I think that's part of the legend, the legend of David Lynn Cook of Weatherproofing Plus, it's because there's not only very acute knowledge, but there is also a good heart, and a good person here.
Speaker 2Dave, your goal at times to see people be able to fix a problem that they're worried about when it comes to the value of their house or even the safety of their home. But I would imagine many of the times that people are reaching out to you is because they're looking at space that they have and it's not usable and they would like to use it. Basements, in particular, say, don't seem usable. When they're looking at space that they have and it's not usable and they would like to use it. Basements, in particular, say don't seem usable when they're damp or wet. When that problem is corrected, are you still there advising them with this trusted service? Are you taking them to the next level where you can actually?
Speaker 3remodel the space. Every customer, whether it's a $225 maintenance procedure, gets consulting with the contracting. I want to continue on so they can be self-sufficient and point them in the right direction. But yes, we want to have usable space through insulation, ventilation, like we do with third floors or basement. But really the bottom line is, no matter what we do, we're going to improve indoor air quality, which we are told is four to five times worse than outdoor air quality, which doesn't have lead gas anymore or coal furnaces burning in the neighborhood. So that's the goal. Is healthy in the home, whether they're working, but we're all spending 95% plus indoor, whether it's indoor a car or an office or a home. That air quality has to be working and water just splashing on the floor and sweeping to a floor drain isn't going to give you good air quality.
Speaker 2Yeah, certainly, and I would imagine once you have the air quality, once you have the dampness improved or removed and leaks stopped, you've got usable space. Now it be an attic for storage or it could be a basement for a new office or recreation room. Do your basement waterproofing professionals include also construction to be able to turn space into now livable or remodeled living space?
Speaker 3We do. But the amazing thing is that half of the people that we do French trains and suckle the walls and get the vents and everything working, they just want a dry storage place. But I've found out that homeowners that you give them a usable space that's warm and dry, suddenly they come up with ideas to use it as an office, as a playroom. So you give them a dry place, they'll definitely have use of it. But putting the dehumidifier in a sump pump, no, that's not going to be enough for most homes. We have to get a little more creative than just that.
Speaker 2It sounds like you're very creative. David Lynn Cook from Weatherproofing Plus here in Delaware County. If you'd like to reach David Lynn Cook, he is accessible and prefers actually getting a chance to speak with you on the phone and by email. It's old school method of being able to consult first, find out if there's a problem for real and then visit to see if he can give you advice to fix the problem yourself, or even bring in his basement waterproofing professionals as a team to solve the particular problem that you have. Let me give you David Lynn Cook's phone number. It's area code 6 1 0, 3, 2, 5 0, 5, 9, 6. And if you'd like to email Dave, you can email David at David L Cook 34. So that's David L Cook and the number 34 at gmailcom. David would love to hear from you If you've listened to this podcast, if you'd like to have some advice.
Speaker 2He's accessible, and that is different in these times. David, you're very accessible is different in these times. David, you're very accessible. You're quite a knowledgeable person when it comes to basement waterproofing and humidity controls, and that includes inside the house, outside the house and in the attic and in the basement, and you can see why all of these problems really do take a kind of an overall review necessary to find out if the problem you're seeing is caused by the problem where you're seeing it or somewhere else. And it's very clear, david, you're quite the professional.
Speaker 3Oh, thank you Bob. I had two customers I did in the 90s. One became a widow and had some maintenance issues that got behind on, was able to help locally in central Delaware County. So I have a passion for finding a fix and serving my neighbors in the community of Marple, newtown and saying, hey, it's not always a big bill, there's simple things. But it all starts with being very precise what is causing these symptoms of moisture and humidity that creates unusable space? And that's the relief I have and why I'm still doing it, after being a professional waterproofing insulation estimator in 1979. And today I'm going to go see somebody later and I don't charge and I always do free consults for my neighbors. I don't expect to quote every job. I do expect to find the source of the problem on every job.
Speaker 2Wow, that is different in these times. David Lynn Cook, quite a good neighbor. You are definitely a good neighbor business owner. We're very proud to have you in Delaware County and thank you for being a guest on the Good Neighbor podcast today. We're happily awarding you with the Good Neighbor Business Award as a good neighbor business in the community. And if you'd like again to reach David Lynn Cook to talk to him about your basement, your water problem or your humidity problem, you can reach David Lynn Cook and his basement waterproofing professionals by calling Dave at area code 610-325-0596 or emailing Dave at davidlcook34 at gmail. A good neighbor business, a good neighbor, david Lynn Cook. Thank you very much for being our guest today on the Good Neighbor Podcast, dave.
Speaker 3You're welcome. I love those house calls.
Speaker 1Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast hosted by Bob Lacey on an upcoming episode by going to gnpdelcocom or by calling Bob at 610-557-3745.