Volker: Foundation & Waterproofing by JLB

What Foundation and Waterproofing Challenges Affect Volker?

Around 39th Street, Volker packs 1910s-30s bungalows and walk-up flats onto tight lots, and all that lot coverage leaves rainwater with few places to drain. That crowding is the root of the neighborhood's foundation-moisture problem.

With buildings, walks, and drives covering most of the ground, surface water pools against foundations instead of soaking away, and the expansive Midtown clay stays saturated long after a storm. Pressed against aging masonry walls, that constant moisture produces chronic dampness — musty air, damp basements and crawlspaces, and the mildew and wood decay that follow when a below-grade space can never dry out.

JLB treats Volker's problem as an air-and-moisture system, not just a leak. We manage the water at the wall with interior drainage where it's needed, then encapsulate the crawlspace and basement — sealing the space with a heavy vapor barrier and spray foam so ground moisture is locked out. JLB foams both the crawlspace and the basement, twice the protection for less than competitors charge to do one.

In a dense Midtown neighborhood, dry air is as much the goal as a dry floor. We encapsulate a Volker home against the ground moisture the crowded lots trap — better air quality, lower energy bills, and masonry that finally gets to dry.

In a Volker walk-up or bungalow it's a problem you smell before you see it — humid, heavy air in a below-grade space that never dries. That's the cue to encapsulate, and because JLB seals both the crawlspace and the basement, a single visit can take the whole below-grade envelope from damp and musty to dry, with cleaner air and lower utility bills to show for it.