Raritan borough basements by the river
Raritan Valley Waterproofing installs sump pumps and seals foundation cracks in Raritan borough, the Somerset County town that shares its name with the river and with a North Branch flood gauge.
One note first: this page is about the borough in Somerset County, not Raritan Township in Hunterdon.
Local record
The gauge named for the borough
Raritan sits on the Raritan River (Wikipedia), and the Weather Service gauge called "Raritan" measures the North Branch. Flood stage there is 10 feet. Floyd pushed it to 18.98 feet on September 16, 1999 (NWS Floyd report), and Irene reached 17.96 feet in August 2011 (NWS Irene report). Both storms put the branch almost twice its flood stage.
A river that rises that far, that quickly, raises the water in the ground around it for days afterward. That slow rise is what a basement feels, even on streets the river never reaches.
A borough in the middle on age
Raritan's housing is younger than Somerville's next door but older than the townships around it. Of 3,349 homes, 58.3% were built before 1980 and 37.1% before 1960 (ACS 2024). Just under half, 49.9%, are owner-occupied and 45.2% are single-family detached.
That mix means a fair number of postwar houses that already have a sump pit, often with the original pump or a replacement bought in a hurry during a storm. Pits that are too small, check valves that stick and discharge lines that empty right back against the foundation show up again and again in houses of this age.
Pump first, then the walls
If you already have a pit, the first visit is usually about the pump: is it sized for how often it runs, does it have a backup for when the power drops in a storm, and does the water leave the property instead of circling back? Once that is sorted, we look at the walls. Hairline cracks in poured concrete that seep after rain can be injected from inside. Cracks that show movement go to an engineer, and we stop there.
What we would look at in Raritan
Other towns are listed on the service area page.