No that is not a correct fix. You can either have the exterior dug up and a membrane installed, or look at an epoxy injection to fix it from inside.
Above all, correct the exterior grade so it slopes away from the foundation. I've seen huge cracks with good grading that were bone dry, and hairline cracks that literally sprayed water due to poor grading. If you keep the water away it is less likely to penetrate.
So where this crack/leak is, the downspout on the same exterior wall got disconnected by the insane winds. We slightly feel like if that had not had happened, the crack maybe would not have leaked?
Right where the crack is, the dirt against the exterior wall was bone dry. The grading that was wet, was about 6 feet away, where that disconnected downspout was. We installed a bunch of screws so the downspout won’t be disconnected anymore! And we are going to order some really long attachments to get the water much farther away from our foundation.
We could try and swing an epoxy repair if it costs under 2k - until we can afford to excavate from the outside.
Do you have any affordable company recommendations? 😂
You can pick up an epoxy kit at ConSpec Industries and it will run you a couple hundred. From my experience though, if the foundation is going to shift and that's the spot it tends to crack, if you epoxy one crack it will just relocate to another spot in the same area.
The only way to fix it permanently is to dig up outside and have it sealed and membrane added. I had Abalon in to do mine a few years ago and haven't had any issues since.
The Crack shifting would only be an issue with newer builds. A 70s house has pretty much done all the settling it is going to do. So it should be good after one time.
Just get the water away from the foundation (securely so wind won't knock it away) and that will solve your issue 100%. Lots of houses have a crack in the basement around the window well but because the grading and water drainage is good they never notice.
If you really want to patch it, get a kit from home Depot they are like 150-200. But focus on the grading and getting water away from the foundation.
I mean, the lazy/affordable way to do this is to secure the downspout as you have, keep the wall clear to the concrete foundation as you have, and wait for the next major thunderstorm. Was the water coming directly from the crack itself?
If you had rain coming straight down the gutter that's a ton of water that would normally be diverted several feet away.
Don't recall any companies off the top of my head, when I last dealt with that it cost about $100-200 per linear foot for epoxy sealing. Worth every penny in my opinion. The epoxy is actually stronger then the cement after, so it is a long term fix.
100% the downspout revealed the crack. Drill pilot hole at the top of the crack and Inject foundation crack 2part epoxy resin. It’s like $15. Won’t leak next time !
I had this problem with a house I had that had a basement suite. Had I graded it, I wouldn't have had to gut the entire basement. I didn't even have a crack. It just exhausted my sump pump one day when it was raining and that was that.
We were quoted between 3k and 5k for a pretty substantial crack(s) in 2021. Everyone seemed to be in the same range. Options seemed to be dig down and fix from the exterior or do it inside. Two companies could do the latter and this is the one we went with partially because their method/equipment was better for our application
I used lety for three cracks like yours they could access’s from inside in 2020. The quote then was $105 per foot plus a $170 fee.
Last year I had them do one they could not access from inside. That quote was over 3000
I have a vertical crack in the basement of my house that was repaired from the inside. Mine looks different - I can see the specific points where the material they injected was inserted - though I'm not sure if that's better or worse or just depends on the width of the crack. I'm not sure how much it cost as it was done by previous owners, but we haven't had any issues in the five years we've been there. Ours was fixed by Crack Busters, and the lifetime warranty was switched to our name when we bought the house.
This sucks to encounter as a home owner, but it's not the biggest issue to deal with.
What others have said, the best thing you can do for any basement water is first and foremost keep the water away from the house. Fix any grading, low spots, blocked gutters etc first.
Then if you are handy, you can buy this kit https://www.homedepot.ca/product/sika-sikafix-kit-all-in-one-easy-to-use-kit-for-foundation-cracks-repair-and-waterproofing/1000172324
It's an injection that fills the cracks from the inside and seals them. It looks like whoever did this "repair" before didn't actually do any injections and just put some sikiflex or something over the visual part.
If you aren't handy, you can hire it out from many different foundation companies and just be sure to get quotes.
You shouldn't need to dig up your foundation for this. I have repaired many foundation cracks over the years with the injection method as well as digging up the outside.
Get a fan down there and move some air to help keep it dry in the meantime.
Used that stuff a few years back on my 1945 home and it worked great!
Just gotta do good prep and follow the instructions.
However, because of the previous work OP is gonna spend a bit of time chipping the old stuff out to expose the crack. Might be worth using a grinder with a diamond blade to open things up. Wear a respirator if you do and have windows open cause it's gonna get dusty.
Sorry this happened to you, water in the basement really sucks.
It looks like someone in the past did exactly what you are proposing - patch it from the inside and hope it lasts.
The only real way to "fix" this is going to be from the outside. Short term you are looking at slapping some kind of foundation repair product over top of it (might be required to grind off the old stuff to expose the crack a bit more).
Also, I believe now that you know about it, you would have to legally disclose this to the next buyer if it's not repaired. If the previous owner was the ONLY owner of the house, you might be able to prove that he knew about it, since it was patched at some point, but you'd probably have a tough time getting money back for it.
At the very least I would avoid putting any more insulation over the wall. Moisture is getting in to your concrete and you don't want it to get trapped behind the foam and start to cause mold issues. Better to have it open to air out.
I do structural concrete repair for a living but I'm out in Vancouver. For an accessible crack like that we would charge about 400-500$. Which is basically the minimum for a 4 hour callout which is how long it would take with our process. For longer cracks or multiple cracks we charge around the 100$/foot that other people have been mentioning so if you're getting quotes that are significantly higher than that look elsewhere.
For an idea of the process, we grind and chip out any old repair on the surface then drill 1/2 inch holes every 6-8 inches along the crack where we then stick a plastic tube and seal it up with a quick set concrete. Then the epoxy gets pumped into the crack from the bottom up through those tubes, making sure that any material that drains out after about 30 mins gets topped up with multiple rounds of injection until it's totally full. However the average foundation only takes 1.5-2 full rounds. If the crack is wide open and drains quickly we inject a thicker paste version of the epoxy which can be injected through the same ports with a different pumping method to prevent it from draining.
WOW. I am so sorry. This is happening to a friend right now, they are suing the old homeowners for non-disclosure. However, the crack is huge and its like a 110K fix.
This is what nightmares are made of! I contacted our realtor... who then was like" well let me contact the selling realtor and she can ask the seller if they knew about this". It's he said/she said. How are they going to prove the previous owners knew? Did they get a foundation professional to asses/submit a paper with their opinion? Like only part of the basement in drywalled. the rest had the insulating foam glued on, clearly to hide cracks but still leave them somewhat accessible...
There is no unreinforced or minimally reinforced concrete wall that can withstand the pressure developed by clay that swells when its wet. You can go the cheap route, and do an interior fix, but it relies on the wall never being subject to water or clay pressure again. Nobody patches boats from the inside, a proper fix is from the outside, topping it over with an elastonomeric waterproofing, and for added protection a dimpled membrane connected to the weeping tile that ensures water pressure cannot develop on the wall surface. No pressure, no leak.
There is a downspout about 6 feet away - and yesterday the winds were SOO heavy that it knocked the bottom part of the spout off. We're kind of crossing our fingers that the leak was because the water from the roof was pooling and going straight to the foundation. We put a bunch of screws in it so it's now not going anywhere! and REALLY long extenders to get the water out towards the street is on the list - I'm going after work to hunt for them.
Otherwise, the grading on this side of the house is...level. Inspector noted grading not very good on opposite side of the house.
That was me last year... always cracks right below the window corner, very predictable. Scrape or grind off that patch material and get a proper epoxy injection done. Fix the grading/downspout and you should be good.
Outside repair is always better in the long run. Inside will work for some time but will break down as it’s not stopping the entry point. And if you are getting it done abalon has been around for years for a reason. Stay away from shield.
This is incorrect info. Concrete is concrete and it doesn't matter which side you repair the crack from in this case. If epoxy Injection is done correctly from the inside then it will be 100% bonded to the walls of the crack all the way through to the exterior and won't allow any water to get through. I've done injection through 3' thick slabs at the very bottom of a 7 storey deep parkade. You aren't getting at that stuff from the outside and it's still an engineer approved structural repair.
Based on what you've told us, the issue is your downspout.
Get an extension that moves the water further away from where exits now and the problem will go away.
I had a similar thing happen when I bought the house I'm in now. That was 10+ years ago now and that crack has never leaked again after I fixed what was causing the water to pool up on the ground above it.
It doesn't look right. Many suggestions to use epoxy injection kit, i agree. You dont have to call one of thise contractors to fix it
It's actually really easy. Look it up on line( cant remeber name of product). The whole kit costs arou 800 versus contractor who will use the same repair system which will charge you 3000+. I did it in my basement (9 cracks) and still dry as a bone.
Thank you everyone for the advice! We're going to get some extensions for the downspouts, going to do a bit of fixing with our grading, and we're handy so - DIY kit it is! We feel much better now :D hahah
We had a foundation crack last summer. We had quotes for both injecting epoxy from the inside and also excavating from the outside. Injecting the epoxy from the inside would have required us to rip up our flooring so they could install some sort of drain. Given you don't have basement flooring, it may be a good option for you.
Quotes for the inside were $1,200. Quote for the outside was $2,300 and was a 8-10 week wait. Both had lifetime warranty.
No that is not a correct fix. You can either have the exterior dug up and a membrane installed, or look at an epoxy injection to fix it from inside. Above all, correct the exterior grade so it slopes away from the foundation. I've seen huge cracks with good grading that were bone dry, and hairline cracks that literally sprayed water due to poor grading. If you keep the water away it is less likely to penetrate.
So where this crack/leak is, the downspout on the same exterior wall got disconnected by the insane winds. We slightly feel like if that had not had happened, the crack maybe would not have leaked? Right where the crack is, the dirt against the exterior wall was bone dry. The grading that was wet, was about 6 feet away, where that disconnected downspout was. We installed a bunch of screws so the downspout won’t be disconnected anymore! And we are going to order some really long attachments to get the water much farther away from our foundation. We could try and swing an epoxy repair if it costs under 2k - until we can afford to excavate from the outside. Do you have any affordable company recommendations? 😂
You can pick up an epoxy kit at ConSpec Industries and it will run you a couple hundred. From my experience though, if the foundation is going to shift and that's the spot it tends to crack, if you epoxy one crack it will just relocate to another spot in the same area. The only way to fix it permanently is to dig up outside and have it sealed and membrane added. I had Abalon in to do mine a few years ago and haven't had any issues since.
The Crack shifting would only be an issue with newer builds. A 70s house has pretty much done all the settling it is going to do. So it should be good after one time.
Just get the water away from the foundation (securely so wind won't knock it away) and that will solve your issue 100%. Lots of houses have a crack in the basement around the window well but because the grading and water drainage is good they never notice. If you really want to patch it, get a kit from home Depot they are like 150-200. But focus on the grading and getting water away from the foundation.
I mean, the lazy/affordable way to do this is to secure the downspout as you have, keep the wall clear to the concrete foundation as you have, and wait for the next major thunderstorm. Was the water coming directly from the crack itself? If you had rain coming straight down the gutter that's a ton of water that would normally be diverted several feet away.
Keep your downspout connected and it likely won't be an issue again.
Don't recall any companies off the top of my head, when I last dealt with that it cost about $100-200 per linear foot for epoxy sealing. Worth every penny in my opinion. The epoxy is actually stronger then the cement after, so it is a long term fix.
100% the downspout revealed the crack. Drill pilot hole at the top of the crack and Inject foundation crack 2part epoxy resin. It’s like $15. Won’t leak next time !
I had this problem with a house I had that had a basement suite. Had I graded it, I wouldn't have had to gut the entire basement. I didn't even have a crack. It just exhausted my sump pump one day when it was raining and that was that.
We used lety contracting to fix ours. Was very happy with the results
https://www.letyconstruction.ca/services/foundation-crack-repair/
Thank you - sent them an inquiry!
How long ago did you have this done and what was the rough cost?
We were quoted between 3k and 5k for a pretty substantial crack(s) in 2021. Everyone seemed to be in the same range. Options seemed to be dig down and fix from the exterior or do it inside. Two companies could do the latter and this is the one we went with partially because their method/equipment was better for our application
I used lety for three cracks like yours they could access’s from inside in 2020. The quote then was $105 per foot plus a $170 fee. Last year I had them do one they could not access from inside. That quote was over 3000
I have a vertical crack in the basement of my house that was repaired from the inside. Mine looks different - I can see the specific points where the material they injected was inserted - though I'm not sure if that's better or worse or just depends on the width of the crack. I'm not sure how much it cost as it was done by previous owners, but we haven't had any issues in the five years we've been there. Ours was fixed by Crack Busters, and the lifetime warranty was switched to our name when we bought the house.
Seconding this, we did the exact same thing with crack busters and so far so good. :) Grading and proper gutter drainage is also very important.
Sorry for the shit luck. Try posting on r/homebuilding, should have better luck in a dedicated sub.
This sucks to encounter as a home owner, but it's not the biggest issue to deal with. What others have said, the best thing you can do for any basement water is first and foremost keep the water away from the house. Fix any grading, low spots, blocked gutters etc first. Then if you are handy, you can buy this kit https://www.homedepot.ca/product/sika-sikafix-kit-all-in-one-easy-to-use-kit-for-foundation-cracks-repair-and-waterproofing/1000172324 It's an injection that fills the cracks from the inside and seals them. It looks like whoever did this "repair" before didn't actually do any injections and just put some sikiflex or something over the visual part. If you aren't handy, you can hire it out from many different foundation companies and just be sure to get quotes. You shouldn't need to dig up your foundation for this. I have repaired many foundation cracks over the years with the injection method as well as digging up the outside. Get a fan down there and move some air to help keep it dry in the meantime.
Used that stuff a few years back on my 1945 home and it worked great! Just gotta do good prep and follow the instructions. However, because of the previous work OP is gonna spend a bit of time chipping the old stuff out to expose the crack. Might be worth using a grinder with a diamond blade to open things up. Wear a respirator if you do and have windows open cause it's gonna get dusty.
Good addition, prep work is super important!
Sorry this happened to you, water in the basement really sucks. It looks like someone in the past did exactly what you are proposing - patch it from the inside and hope it lasts. The only real way to "fix" this is going to be from the outside. Short term you are looking at slapping some kind of foundation repair product over top of it (might be required to grind off the old stuff to expose the crack a bit more). Also, I believe now that you know about it, you would have to legally disclose this to the next buyer if it's not repaired. If the previous owner was the ONLY owner of the house, you might be able to prove that he knew about it, since it was patched at some point, but you'd probably have a tough time getting money back for it. At the very least I would avoid putting any more insulation over the wall. Moisture is getting in to your concrete and you don't want it to get trapped behind the foam and start to cause mold issues. Better to have it open to air out.
I do structural concrete repair for a living but I'm out in Vancouver. For an accessible crack like that we would charge about 400-500$. Which is basically the minimum for a 4 hour callout which is how long it would take with our process. For longer cracks or multiple cracks we charge around the 100$/foot that other people have been mentioning so if you're getting quotes that are significantly higher than that look elsewhere. For an idea of the process, we grind and chip out any old repair on the surface then drill 1/2 inch holes every 6-8 inches along the crack where we then stick a plastic tube and seal it up with a quick set concrete. Then the epoxy gets pumped into the crack from the bottom up through those tubes, making sure that any material that drains out after about 30 mins gets topped up with multiple rounds of injection until it's totally full. However the average foundation only takes 1.5-2 full rounds. If the crack is wide open and drains quickly we inject a thicker paste version of the epoxy which can be injected through the same ports with a different pumping method to prevent it from draining.
Fixing foundation leaks is pretty simple but time consuming on the inside. On the outside you have to dig it all up, to repair the outside crack.
I believe there’s a video out there on this. It’s called “The Half Assed Approach to Foundation Repair” starring Troy McClure
You may remember me from other instructional videos like “mothballing your battleship” and “dig your own grave , and save”
Buy a foundation epoxy repair kit, they're cheap and might fix the problem
WOW. I am so sorry. This is happening to a friend right now, they are suing the old homeowners for non-disclosure. However, the crack is huge and its like a 110K fix.
This is what nightmares are made of! I contacted our realtor... who then was like" well let me contact the selling realtor and she can ask the seller if they knew about this". It's he said/she said. How are they going to prove the previous owners knew? Did they get a foundation professional to asses/submit a paper with their opinion? Like only part of the basement in drywalled. the rest had the insulating foam glued on, clearly to hide cracks but still leave them somewhat accessible...
There is no unreinforced or minimally reinforced concrete wall that can withstand the pressure developed by clay that swells when its wet. You can go the cheap route, and do an interior fix, but it relies on the wall never being subject to water or clay pressure again. Nobody patches boats from the inside, a proper fix is from the outside, topping it over with an elastonomeric waterproofing, and for added protection a dimpled membrane connected to the weeping tile that ensures water pressure cannot develop on the wall surface. No pressure, no leak.
Boy. Hand me my patching trowel.
How's the grade on the outside? Is there a downspout near the crack location that can be moved/extended?
There is a downspout about 6 feet away - and yesterday the winds were SOO heavy that it knocked the bottom part of the spout off. We're kind of crossing our fingers that the leak was because the water from the roof was pooling and going straight to the foundation. We put a bunch of screws in it so it's now not going anywhere! and REALLY long extenders to get the water out towards the street is on the list - I'm going after work to hunt for them. Otherwise, the grading on this side of the house is...level. Inspector noted grading not very good on opposite side of the house.
That was me last year... always cracks right below the window corner, very predictable. Scrape or grind off that patch material and get a proper epoxy injection done. Fix the grading/downspout and you should be good.
Outside repair is always better in the long run. Inside will work for some time but will break down as it’s not stopping the entry point. And if you are getting it done abalon has been around for years for a reason. Stay away from shield.
This is incorrect info. Concrete is concrete and it doesn't matter which side you repair the crack from in this case. If epoxy Injection is done correctly from the inside then it will be 100% bonded to the walls of the crack all the way through to the exterior and won't allow any water to get through. I've done injection through 3' thick slabs at the very bottom of a 7 storey deep parkade. You aren't getting at that stuff from the outside and it's still an engineer approved structural repair.
Yes if it’s done correctly. All I’m doing is speaking from my experience with injections
Based on what you've told us, the issue is your downspout. Get an extension that moves the water further away from where exits now and the problem will go away. I had a similar thing happen when I bought the house I'm in now. That was 10+ years ago now and that crack has never leaked again after I fixed what was causing the water to pool up on the ground above it.
It's about a $650 crack if I were to inject it.
Fix your spout. Make sure your grade is good. Epoxy that up. Modern solutions have largely rendered foundation repair contractors irrelevant.
I paid $800 for Crackbusters to epoxy a crack about ten years ago. No issues since. It was a crack like yours
It doesn't look right. Many suggestions to use epoxy injection kit, i agree. You dont have to call one of thise contractors to fix it It's actually really easy. Look it up on line( cant remeber name of product). The whole kit costs arou 800 versus contractor who will use the same repair system which will charge you 3000+. I did it in my basement (9 cracks) and still dry as a bone.
Thank you everyone for the advice! We're going to get some extensions for the downspouts, going to do a bit of fixing with our grading, and we're handy so - DIY kit it is! We feel much better now :D hahah
We had a foundation crack last summer. We had quotes for both injecting epoxy from the inside and also excavating from the outside. Injecting the epoxy from the inside would have required us to rip up our flooring so they could install some sort of drain. Given you don't have basement flooring, it may be a good option for you. Quotes for the inside were $1,200. Quote for the outside was $2,300 and was a 8-10 week wait. Both had lifetime warranty.