Sealing the damp crawl spaces under Morristown additions, porches, and older wings to protect framing and cut down on musty air.
Many Morristown houses have grown over the decades. A Victorian may have a kitchen wing added later, an enclosed porch, or a rear addition built over a shallow crawl space with a dirt floor and open vents. These spaces sit right beside or under living areas, and in a humid New Jersey summer they pull in moist air that condenses on cool pipes and joists. The result is often a musty smell in one room that the rest of the house does not share. Over time, that damp air can also lead to mold on the joists, soft wood, and insects.
Encapsulation seals that space off from the ground and the outside air. The contractor clears debris and any damp insulation, deals with standing water if there is any, lays a heavy reinforced liner over the floor and up the walls, seals the seams and vents, and adds a dehumidifier or a small supply of conditioned air. In older crawl spaces built of stone or brick, sealing the liner to an irregular wall takes more care than it does on smooth block. The liner thickness and dehumidifier size both affect price, so ask for them in the quote.
Access can be tight under old additions, sometimes only a small hatch or a gap behind a porch lattice. Ask the contractor how they will get in, what condition the framing is in, and whether any rotted sills or joists should be repaired before the liner goes down. Covering damaged wood just hides the problem. If the crawl space connects to the main basement, the plan should account for how air and moisture move between them. Good encapsulation should leave the room above drier and less musty. It can also make the floor overhead feel warmer in winter.
They are often handled together since moisture moves between them. A contractor can check whether the crawl space opens into the basement and suggest a plan that covers both.
Yes, but it takes more labor to seal the liner to rough, uneven stone. Ask how the contractor attaches and seals the liner on your type of wall.
Usually yes. Morristown summers are humid, and a dehumidifier or conditioned air keeps the sealed space from building up moisture over the warm months.
In September 2011, after Hurricane Irene and the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, the Whippany River overflowed onto Martin Luther King Avenue, closing it between George and Spring streets.
patch.comMorristown's housing is old: about 23% of homes were built in 1939 or earlier and about half before 1970.
api.censusreporter.orgThe Whippany River runs through Morristown on its way to the Rockaway River and the Passaic basin.
en.wikipedia.orgA drain at the base of Morristown basement walls, old stone and new concrete alike, that carries seepage to a sump pump before it spreads across the floor.
Digging along a Morristown foundation to seal the outside of the wall and add drainage, when the lot and the house make it possible.
Injection repairs for leaking cracks in poured Morristown foundations, plus an honest look at cracks in older block and stone walls.
Pumping out, drying, and clearing damaged materials after a storm, river overflow, or sump failure in a Morristown basement.