Concrete foundation repair

Discovering a foundation crack in your poured concrete wall, leaking or not can be little disturbing as this could mean costly repairs. Trying to determine whether a foundation crack should be “more cause for concern” than others is something most people can’t decipher on their own. Should you repair it on the inside or dig it up and fix it from the exterior side?

We often get asked if we can repair a crack on the inside that has been previously repaired by others.  In some cases we can but if we cannot we will perform an exterior crack repair that once completed looks like the pictures shown here:

Pipe penetrations are exactly that, pipes that go all the way through the foundation below grade (see example pictures) In homes that were built 30 – 40 years ago the pipes that ran through the foundation were typically surrounded with some type of grout or mortar to seal the gap between the pipe and the foundation.

After years of wear and tear the grout or mortar breaks down and will begin to leak. In most cases these types of leaks should be repaired from the outside, chipping out the old grout or mortar, repacked with a non shrink grout. If we are filling in a hole in the foundation we will typically form both sides of the foundation and fill the hole with a special concrete/grout blend. Once it has cured we then seal the area with liquid rubber (see picture to the right).

By using a product like liquid rubber you get a true seal over top of the new grout that was applied which will last much longer due to zero moisture being able to penetrate and affect the grout in the future.

Once the liquid layer has cured we will then add a drainage board called Delta MS that gives the area covered an air gap.  This air gap prevents water from pressurizing between the soil and the foundation like it had done in years past. This technique is one we use in our standard foundation waterproofing procedure so we know it works…100% guaranteed.

Rod holes and snap ties are other areas that cause problematic leakage in a poured concrete foundation.  Pictured to the right are a few rod holes that are covered over with a special grout.  The exterior side of rod holes and snap ties are covered in the same manner, sometimes with some type of mastic sealant.

Over the years the exterior side will wear out or degrade, especially if the soil on the exterior side is wet.  When this happens water is able to push its way through the foundation and show up on your basement floor.

Sometimes we can address these issues from the interior side but if there are enough of them leaking we would advise a homeowner to repair the exterior side of the foundation with a waterproofing system that will total seal the entire wall including the rod holes and snap ties.

Honey combing is a phrase used to describe an area in a concrete foundation that when poured had a small pocket of air trapped within the concrete leaving the stones separated from the slurry mixture part of the concrete.  See picture below…

…if we find a section of concrete that looks somewhat like the picture above and it is leaking into your basement the best course of action is to attack the problem from the exterior side of the foundation.  Using the exterior waterproofing technique ensures us that once completed water will never have the chance to enter.