Crack in basement wall

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Frank0

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I noticed there was moisture in a bedroom closet in the basement and the sheet rock was damp. After removing the sheet rock, and cutting out a section of wood in the center, the picture shows what I found. There was water staining starting from just below where we cut out the section of wood.

Can someone give me an idea of what I need to do here?


Thanks!

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Patching and waterproofing is best done from the outside. For now, make sure water is directed away from the house.
 
Patching and waterproofing is best done from the outside. For now, make sure water is directed away from the house.
What type of patch is best? Does it matter if I patch the inside now and the outside in a week? Is this a typical basement issue or should I be concerned it may worsen? House is about 33 years old.


Thanks!
 
With out knowing anything for sure, I would bet that the house settled a little some time ago and the crack is not new. If that is right then you have had more water around the house than usuall.
Or it is not draining down to the perimeter drain and that's why I suggested to start with a good look at the outside.
I think the best patch would be on the outside, clean out the crack and chip som away so you are working with clean concrete and fill it with hydrolic cement and cover the whole area with tar type concrete waterproofing and then a dimped plastic sheeting that would extend down to the perimeter drain.
There are products that you can put on the inside but the water can still get into the concrete and moisture will wick thru the concrete anyway, so fixing the outside is best and giving the water a path is insurance.
 
With out knowing anything for sure, I would bet that the house settled a little some time ago and the crack is not new. If that is right then you have had more water around the house than usuall.
Or it is not draining down to the perimeter drain and that's why I suggested to start with a good look at the outside.
I think the best patch would be on the outside, clean out the crack and chip som away so you are working with clean concrete and fill it with hydrolic cement and cover the whole area with tar type concrete waterproofing and then a dimped plastic sheeting that would extend down to the perimeter drain.
There are products that you can put on the inside but the water can still get into the concrete and moisture will wick thru the concrete anyway, so fixing the outside is best and giving the water a path is insurance.
I guess I will be doing some digging next weekend.

Thanks Neal
 
Has anyone done the injection repair from the inside with epoxy?

I have seen it done on TV and read about it I would think I would try that before I dig. The OP’s cracked wall looks text book for this system of repair. They set a number of ports into the crack about a foot apart and then cover the crack on the inside with epoxy then inject epoxy into the lowest port until it comes out the one above and proceed up the wall. On a poured wall it seems like it could work ok.

Like I said I have never done it so maybe the pros have and found it doesn’t work.
 
A friend used the injection because his leak was down 12 ft with a concrete dect and front porch over the outside. The water found a new path twice and by the time the water stopped they had done 35ft of of a 16ft high wall. Three trips with a specialest and really expensive.
If this crack is old this leak would indicate a change in the water system around the house that should be fixed or if the crack is new, it may continue and giveing the water a path to drainage is the way to go.
 
Has anyone done the injection repair from the inside with epoxy?

I have seen it done on TV and read about it I would think I would try that before I dig. The OP’s cracked wall looks text book for this system of repair. They set a number of ports into the crack about a foot apart and then cover the crack on the inside with epoxy then inject epoxy into the lowest port until it comes out the one above and proceed up the wall. On a poured wall it seems like it could work ok.

Like I said I have never done it so maybe the pros have and found it doesn’t work.
Asked a place about it today, they wanted $130 for the epoxy, but I could find no consensus on whether the stuff actually works good, plus now Neal chimes in it did not work for his friend.

Just found this stuff which gets good reviews and for the price may be worth trying. If I use it I will still seal the outside and also look at the drainage system. I want this over and done with :)

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I'm not sure it's the same product and it did work after they did the whole front of ther house, re and re all the drywall. Both floors of a double basement. (Mountain side house)
 
I'm not sure it's the same product and it did work after they did the whole front of ther house, re and re all the drywall. Both floors of a double basement. (Mountain side house)
God sounds like a disaster.

Looking at the crack it is so small, where the water comes in, I'm not sure I could even force the epoxy in uniformly enough to get the job done. For the inside may just go over the crack and out a few inches on each side with foundation sealer.

Now I know why people prefer condos or rent.
 
Up until a few years ago I have always believed owning would be a winner over time and if the price is right today I still beleive.
Buying a condo isn't cheaper maintenance, it's just spread out over more people, like insurance. Which works fine until you get something like what happened up here when the prices were dropping a bunch of buildings also had leaks and some cost in the millions to fix. http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2009/05/04/leaky-condo-crisis-far-from-over/
 
The system I was talking about allowed for the epoxy to be deeply embedded into the crack as it installs ports along the crack and then seals up the crack at the surface before forcing the epoxy into the crack. If you just take a gun and squirt into a crack it takes the path of least resistance and will go in a little and then come back out around where you are putting it in. These ports are about 12 inches apart and the epoxy has no place to go except deep in the crack until it comes out the port above. I gather the spacing is important based on how thick the wall is etc. once it comes out the port above you then move up to that port and work your way up. It wouldn’t work on a block wall as you would have to fill the cores. I don’t know if this is the system Neil had experience with or not. And I have never tried it as I mentioned, but it did look like it could work.

It’s the hydrostatic pressure on the outside of the wall is the problem and water is heavy and if you have a high water table it’s going to be pretty hard to stop that pressure. If the crack was caused by settling and the water coming in isn’t under pressure it’s more of a weeping because there is an opening letting it freely come in. I would say something like that IMO would be a candidate for the epoxy fix.

I think there are youtube vids of this method on line.
 
much of our work is condo servicing so we do this often using hydrophyllic/hydrophobic polyurethanes,,, for a diy'er, i'd recommend emecole [ NO $ interest ] they have a diy kit that'll include bang ports & material,,, you need to 'butter' & flush out the crk w/water 1st,,, drill your portholes so they intersect the crk about 1/2 thru the bsmt wall, then start injecting from the btm up

works well on either gravity OR hydrostatic however, depending on the head of water, it will find another way to seek its own level
 
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