Hillsborough crawl spaces and basements kept dry

A township built mostly after 1980

Hillsborough has 16,537 homes. Only 34.3% predate 1980 and 11.0%, about 1,815, predate 1960 (ACS 2024), so roughly two in three went up in 1980 or later. Ownership runs high at 79.5%, and 57.9% of homes are single-family detached.

The Millstone River and the Sourland Mountain both figure in the township's history, and places such as Flagtown, Neshanic, South Branch, Belle Mead and Blackwells Mills sit partly or wholly inside its lines (Wikipedia). A house near the river and a house on high ground at the other end of town rarely share the same water problem.

Flooding that reached the township

On September 1, 2021, four people died in vehicles caught by floodwater in Hillsborough and Bridgewater (Patch). The township is on the Somerset County list of towns with Ida-affected repetitive-loss properties (Patch). Losses like that come from roads and low ground near streams, not from a typical basement. Still, the same rain soaked foundations across town.

Crawl spaces and finished lower levels

A vented crawl space under an addition or a split-level pulls in humid summer air, which condenses on cool joists and ductwork. The signs are a musty smell upstairs, sagging insulation and mold spots on wood. Encapsulation seals the vents, lays a heavy liner up the walls and over the ground, and controls the air with a dehumidifier or a conditioned supply.

Full basements in newer houses are often dry enough to finish, and owners here finish them. A bedroom down there needs an egress window, and that job goes through the township permit and inspection. If there is any dampness, we deal with it before the window and the drywall.