Basement flood protection in Paulus Hook, Jersey City (07302)

Paulus Hook is the oldest settled part of Jersey City, and for a long time it was nearly an island in the marsh. The land was built up with fill, and that fill still sits on water. After a rainy week the water table rises to just below many basement floors, and in some buildings it reaches them. The pressure pushes water through the cove, up through cracks in the slab and through the old brick foundation joints. In older rowhouses on Grand Street the problem is steady and predictable, and it follows the season.

The newer towers near Exchange Place are built differently, but they share the same ground. Their below-grade garages and elevator pits sit in groundwater all year, and a crack in a garage wall or a pit floor leaks constantly. For those buildings we work on elevator pit waterproofing with crystalline or injection treatment and on garage wall cracks. For rowhouses, the answer is usually drainage: collect the water under the floor before it reaches the room and send it out with a pump. Rowhouse basements here rarely need excavation outside, which is lucky, because the front yard is usually a sidewalk.

Paulus Hook faces the Hudson River, and storms come off the water hard. Wind-driven rain hits the front walls, parapets and window frames on these blocks more directly than it does further inland. Some basement leaks here start as wall leaks: rain forced through open mortar joints in the front facade runs down inside the masonry to the foundation. When the dampness follows wind direction rather than rain totals, we check the facade and recommend exterior wall waterproofing with a breathable silane or siloxane sealer after any needed repointing.

Getting equipment in is the familiar downtown routine, made tighter by the waterfront traffic. Rowhouse basements are reached through the front areaway, and the street is often permit parking. We stage early in the day, carry the drain pipe, sump basin and bags of stone down by hand, and haul excavated soil out in buckets. Sidewalk protection stays down for the whole job. In towers we coordinate with the property manager on loading dock times, elevator use and which garage spaces have to be closed off while we work. Material deliveries for tower jobs are timed so the street in front of the lobby stays clear for residents.