Water softening & filtration · southeastern Wisconsin
Your water has a number.
On a private well around here, 15 to 30 grains of hardness per gallon is normal. Brookfield’s own utility publishes 23 to 34. Lake Michigan supply runs about 8. Either way it is hard water, and we are named for the number we leave you with.
What hard water does here
Five things Wisconsin homeowners call about
Each one is a symptom of the same number. Most houses have two or three of them and have stopped noticing.
Scale on everything
White crust on shower heads and aerators, and a water heater that quietly takes more energy every year. Scale is a thermal insulator sitting on the heating surface.
Water softeners →
Glasses that never look clean
Cloudy spotting and film that comes back after every wash. That is minerals binding with your detergent before it can do its job.
Water softeners →
Orange staining
Iron comes out of the ground clear and turns orange when it meets air. Common on county wells, and it needs its own stage past a trace.
Iron filtration →
Stiff towels, dull whites
Soap binds to hardness minerals before it can clean, so laundry comes out rough and grey no matter what you wash it with.
Water softeners →
Water you don’t want to drink
Chlorine taste on municipal supply, or a mineral edge on well water. A dedicated tap fixes the glass without treating the whole house twice.
Reverse osmosis →
Not sure which one is yours?
The quote visit reads hardness, iron, chlorine and TDS at your kitchen table, in front of you. It costs nothing and takes about an hour.
Get a free quote →Your number
What does your town actually run?
Published figures from each utility’s own reports. Every house still differs, and the only number that decides anything is the one at your tap. But this is the bracket you are starting from.
The system
Three stages. One quiet corner of the basement.
- Softening. Ion-exchange resin takes the whole house from whatever your test reads, eight grains or thirty-four, to zero.
- Carbon filtration. Activated carbon takes chlorine taste and odor out of showers, laundry and everything you cook with. On a well, iron treatment takes its place and carbon is added only if your test says so.
- Reverse osmosis, optional. A dedicated drinking-water tap at the kitchen sink, filtered right at the glass. Quoted as a line item you can take or drop.
We install only equipment certified to the NSF/ANSI standard for its job: 44 for softeners, 42 for carbon, 58 for reverse osmosis. Everything is sized from your actual water test. The quote names the exact models so you can look the listings up yourself.
Your house, after us
0 grains per gallon
That is the number we are named for, and on a softener install it is the standard the job has to meet before we call it done. Same test kit, same tap, run again with you watching.
The visit, start to finish
About an hour, at your kitchen table
No warehouse tour, no three-hour pitch, nobody camping in your kitchen until you sign.
1 · We test
Hardness, iron, chlorine, TDS. Read on the spot, in front of you. Nothing leaves for a lab.
2 · We quote
One page, itemized, good for 30 days. Take it, compare it, sleep on it.
3 · A licensed plumber installs
Its own scheduled visit. Wisconsin-licensed contractors working under a responsible master, permits pulled. A morning’s work, not a remodel.
Three things you get in writing
“Trust us” isn’t a policy. These are.
Every one of these is a document you can hold before you owe anything.
Where we work
Twenty-one towns, four counties
Every town we install in, and every one of these pages carries that town’s own utility, source and published hardness, not a regional average. Where a town publishes nothing, the page says so instead of guessing.
Straight answers
Questions we actually get
Waukesha switched to Lake Michigan water. Do I still need softening?
City of Waukesha taps now run about 8 grains: much softer than the old 20-plus, but still “hard” on the USGS scale, and now chlorinated. Homes on private wells didn’t switch anything. Either way the quote is free and the number decides, not us.
What does a system cost?
It depends on your water and your house, which is why we won’t pretend one number fits everyone. What we will promise: the quote is one page, itemized, good for 30 days, and you’ll never be asked to “sign tonight for a discount.”
Is soft water safe to drink?
Softening removes hardness minerals; it isn’t a safety treatment and we won’t market it as one. For drinking water, the reverse-osmosis stage puts a dedicated filtered tap at your sink. If you’re on a private well we also recommend the state-certified lab tests for bacteria and nitrates. We can point you to them, and they’re not something we sell.
How much salt does a softener actually use?
On city water around 8 grains, a family of four typically goes through a 40-lb bag every six to eight weeks. On a 20-plus-grain well, expect a bag every two to four weeks. Oversized or timer-based units use more, which is one reason we size from your actual test instead of selling one tank to everyone.
Who does the installation?
Licensed Wisconsin plumbing contractors, working under a responsible master plumber, with permits pulled. Softener drains and RO lines are real plumbing, and Wisconsin law treats them that way.
How long does installation take?
A typical single-family install is a morning’s work. Installation is its own scheduled visit after the quote; it is never bundled into the first appointment, and Wisconsin’s three-business-day cancellation window comes first.
Free, at your kitchen table
Get your free quote
One visit at your kitchen table. We test the water, you watch the readings, and you leave the table holding a one-page quote. It costs nothing whether or not you go ahead.
- We test. Hardness, iron, chlorine and TDS, read on the spot in front of you. Nothing leaves for a lab.
- We quote. One page, itemized, good for 30 days. Take it, compare it, sleep on it.
- A licensed plumber installs. Its own scheduled visit, permits pulled. A morning’s work.
- We retest to zero. On a softener install, the same test again, and you watch the number land.
In writing, before you sign: Wisconsin’s three-business-day right to cancel an in-home sale, no final payment until the system is installed and verified, and the complete written warranty. Terms apply.