Digging down to the footing to seal the outside of a Madison foundation, best suited to lots with room to work and walls worth protecting from the outside.
Exterior waterproofing stops water before it reaches the wall. The crew excavates to the footing, cleans and repairs the foundation, applies a membrane, adds drainage board and a footing drain, and backfills with stone and graded soil. In Madison this tends to make the most sense for older stone or brick foundations that are deteriorating, for a single problem wall on the uphill side of a lot, or for homeowners about to finish a basement in a historic house who want the walls themselves kept dry. It is the bigger job, so it is worth comparing with an interior quote.
Access is the main limit here. Many houses around downtown and the older streets near the train station sit on narrow lots, with a driveway down one side and a neighbor's house close on the other. That leaves little room for an excavator and can turn the job into hand digging. Porches, front steps, mature street trees, and old stone walls also get in the way. Before any digging, the contractor should arrange a utility markout through New Jersey One Call. Ask how they will protect tree roots and what hardscape and plantings are included in the restoration.
The ground itself can be a surprise. The terminal moraine that runs through Madison is a mix of sand, gravel, and buried boulders, and hitting a large stone partway down a trench slows the work and raises the cost. Where a new house has been built next door, the grade between the two properties may have changed, so the contractor should look at how water now moves across the property line. In some cases regrading and a footing drain on one wall solve the problem without opening the whole foundation.
Sometimes only by hand, and sometimes not at all on the side shared with a close neighbor. A contractor can tell you which walls are reachable and whether an interior system is the more practical choice.
It depends on the scope, especially if drainage, structural repair, or work near a property line is involved. Check with the Madison building department before work begins, and expect your contractor to know the process.
Digging near a large tree can cut roots. Ask the contractor how close they need to dig, whether the work touches the strip by the street, and whether the borough needs to be consulted about trees it owns.
Spring Garden Brook and Black Brook, both Passaic River tributaries, have flooded historically, usually from heavy local thunderstorms and summer and fall hurricanes.
morriscountynj.govThe county mitigation plan lists the Kings Road area, the Anthony Drive and North Street area, the Belleau Woods culvert and Spring Garden Brook as flood prone spots.
morriscountynj.govThe plan notes inlets on Madison's steep streets work poorly, so runoff overshoots them and collects in flatter areas, and the North Street sewer pump station was overwhelmed by stormwater backup.
morriscountynj.govA perimeter drain and sump pump for Madison basements that take on water at the floor joint, especially in lower areas near the brooks.
Injection repairs for leaking cracks in Madison's poured walls, and a careful look at cracks in older block and stone foundations.
Sealing the damp crawl spaces under Madison additions, porches, and older homes to stop musty air and protect the framing.
Pumping out, drying, and clearing damaged materials after a storm, failed pump, or backup floods a Madison basement.