Often, when we phone a business and inform we’re calling from The Waterproofing Company, we’re asked, “Which one?” For us this response to our generic name is both a frustration and point of pride. We believe, and have yet to be disproved, that ours is the oldest waterproofing company in the US. When the company incorporated in New York City in 1905, there were no other such companies. We were indeed “the,” as in “the one and only” waterproofing company. Jobsite shanties in our old photographs show signs with names such as “The Foundation Company” and “The Concrete Company”, The Waterproofing Company stood among these, working alongside their other generically named fellow subcontractors, primarily for George A Fuller, then our biggest client.
TWC grew around their patent for Cow Bay Cement, a cementitious waterproofing material troweled onto the interior face of concrete foundations. TWC also pioneered coatings applied to the exterior of foundations, combining asbestos with asphalt and newly developing polymers to make a mastic coating that now frustrates building owners everywhere. Blanchard Ford, working for Johns Manville, sold asbestos to TWC after his return from WWI. He was transferred to Hollywood CA, in the late 20’s but was eager to return to his New England roots. When The Waterproofing Company’s New York office offered Blanchard a position running a new Boston branch, he eagerly took the job and moved his small family back east.
The Boston office fared better after The Depression than did the New York office, whose doors closed in the late 30’s, leaving Blanchard the sole owner. Blachard’s son Charles C Ford joined the company after serving in WWII, joining Peter Nota, and Blanchard in the office, with much of the field personnel from Peter’s cousins, the Govonis. Blanchard’s nickname, Tinker, grew out of his lifelong interest in tinkering with machines and methods to make work flow more smoothly and efficiently. The company grew under both his spirit of innovation and his dogged loyalty to clients and employees alike.
The Waterproofing Company continues today in the pioneering direction set by Blanchard, Peter and Charles. We’re no longer the largest company plying our trade, but our quality workmanship and depth of knowledge make us a preferred contractor for manufacturers introducing new products. This knowledge of materials and techniques translates into value for our clients through the application of appropriate, often money saving, means and methods. We maintain a fairly small office, and unique among our competitors, each of our Managers follows all projects from estimate through construction to closeout. Our clients are assured helpful and informative service from project start to finish.
