Repairing Wall Cracks

The good news is that wall cracks can be permanently repaired.  Some cracks are minor, do not leak, and only need a cosmetic repair.  If you do opt for cosmetic repairs only, make sure that the cracks do not reoccur.  If they do, then the recurrent cracking is a sign of a deeper problem and should be addressed before it gets worse.

Recent innovations in wall crack repair have made it much easier and more financially possible to properly repair wall cracks- with no expensive high-pressure injection equipment or drilling of holes in the basement wall.  Basement Systems is the industry leader for solutions to your foundation and basement wall cracks.

Bad Choices for Repairing Cracks

Do it Yourself Crack Repair
Homeowners will often try to repair cracks simply by applying caulk onto the gap or by coating the crack with cement.  Unfortunately, this superficial fix does not stop water from filling the crack.  This causes efflorescence, which pushes off the caulk or cement and causes it to peel.  The homeowner will often follow up on this repair by removing the caulk and chiseling the crack into an inverted V-groove.  The groove is then filled with hydraulic cement in an attempt to seal off the hole.   The rigid hydraulic cement plugs the hole but bonds very poorly, and as the concrete expands and contracts with moisture, temperature, and the shifting of the house, the plug weakens.  Too soon, efflorescence begins to seep around the rigid cement filler and is followed quickly by water.  This fix lasts about twice as long as caulk- about two years- before it ceases to be useful and allows water into your basement or cellar once again.

Epoxy Injection
As an alternative, some professionals still install epoxy (and sometimes grout) injections to fill wall cracks.  These powerful seals will fill the crack and actually make the basement wall stronger.  While this seems like a fantastic idea on the surface, there are three major problems to this solution that cannot be ignored:

1. The epoxy cures very slowly and can actually run out from the other side of the crack before it can harden.
2. The surface the epoxy applies to must be completely dry.  Combined with its slow curing process, this makes it a poor solution for damp or leaking wall cracks.
3. While the wall crack is sealed, the original cause of the crack is never addressed.  Unless the structural stress that caused the crack is also repaired, a new crack will develop next to the repaired crack.

Epoxy injection works better than many options, but it’s not the answer for fixing your basement wall cracks.

Exterior Repair
The area on the outside of your foundation wall where the crack has appeared can be excavated and sealed with multiple layers of synthetic waterproof materials that bridge any future movement of the wall as well as permanently lock the water out.  While this method does solve the problem, digging up your lawn involves tearing out anything in the way- including sidewalks, shrubbery, steps and porches and leaving a pile of dirt on the lawn that will need to be backfilled again once the repair is complete. Of course, this freshly backfilled soil will be even more porous and water-absorbent.  In a year, the soil will settle and you will need to add more soil to regrade your lawn so that water is not pooling directly around the foundation.

Sealing Wall Cracks the Right Way

If you want to seal your wall crack permanently and without invasive excavation of your yard, the best way to seal the crack is to use the FlexiSpan Wall Crack Repair System.  This dynamic technique seals the crack with polyurethane that forms a barrier impenetrable to water and bonds well with both wet and dry concrete surfaces.  Unlike grout and epoxy, polyurethane is a flexible material that can expand to as much as 20 times its volume (up to 3/4" or 1.9 cm.), making it able to adjust to the continuous movement of concrete as it expands and shrinks with different moisture and temperature conditions.  The low viscosity of our polyurethane polymer allows it to easily fill hairline cracks, and its ease of installation allows for a fast and inexpensive repair.

This seal is the first line of defense of the FlexiSpan.  If water somehow breaks past this, we lay a foam strip over the job that will direct the water into either your perimeter drainage system, or alternately to a small dry well that the installer will create for you.  Even if the polyurethane seal fails, it should stop 95% of the water that would otherwise come through the crack- the foam strip will not become overwhelmed with the minor seepage that might have made it through.

Once the crack has been sealed, we coat over the seal and foam strip with a special coating that adds a final layer of protection while giving the seal a tooled-off to look like a gray-colored drywall compound joint.  The dry well is covered with fresh concrete, and the basement leak is fixed forever with a subtle, attractive solution!

Crack Repair for a Settling Foundation or Bowing Walls

If you’ve noticed more serious foundation cracks that may be caused by structural problems, you may be dealing with a foundation problem that is caused by changing soil conditions around or under your home. If this is the case, the foundation repair branch of Basement Systems, Foundation Supportworks, Inc. can help. Find out more about foundation crack repair at Foundation Supportworks Web site.