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Crack Repair back

Speed Patch: A low cost and not very efficient repair. This repair uses a cement-like material over the surface of the crack mainly used on dry cracks as a cosmetic repair.

Vulcum Patch: A medium cost, medium effective repair. The repair uses a silicone-like product, applied to the prepared surface of the crack. This method is not reliable. The photo (left) shows a vulcum patch that had to be removed and replaced with and epoxy injection repair.

Epoxy or Urethane Injection: The most effective way to repair a crack. The repair uses epoxy or urethane based products that are injected into the entire crack using approved techniques. However, although urethane is an excellent water stop,it is by no means considered to be a structural repair. A wall that has no sill plate on top to help restrict movement and has a crack in it, is not a good place for a urethane injection. Click HERE for a comparison between epoxy and urethane injection.

Excavation: The most costly and cosmetically unappealing, this process requires digging a hole down to the existing drainage system, sealing the crack (no visqueen please) and placing a dimpled sheet membrane over the crack extending 2 feet on each side and sealing the top and sides with Mastic. This has the added benefit of alleviating hydrostatic pressure around the crack itself.

Block Walls back

damaged block wall In block walls, water can come in at the top, middle and bottom. The best repair will differ with the type of movement the wall is experiencing and how much. Usually the evidence of movement will be stair step cracking through the mortar joints at the corners, cracks running through the center of the block toward the center of the wall, a horizontal crack in the prepped for carbon fiber strips center of the wall or just above center, an overhang between the bottom block and the block above it, or any combination of the above. These are signs you will need a professional. If the walls haven't deflected in too much, reinforcement will do the trick. The 2 popular methods are:

Steel beams placed against the wall
Carbon fiber reinforcement

Of these 2 methods, Carbon fiber is the most cosmetically appealing and actually stronger in tensile strength than steel.

Foundation Movement back

foundation push A wall sliding in at the top is the most common indication of foundation movement in poured walls. Commonly in high clay areas the chosen method of water proofing does not deal with the structural integrity of the wall itself. Don't just take the water away, restore the structure to as originally designed or better in order to avoid a much more costly repair in the future.

Rod Holes back

rod holes before Rod holes are the holes that remain after the rods that hold the forms together while the concrete dries are removed. Normally they are corked and tarred from the outside to prevent leakage and a layer of hydraulic cement is smoothed over inside the wall for cosmetics before painting.

Proper method of repair involves compressing Vulcum or tar between corks filling at least 6 to 8 inches of the void. rod holes repaired

Window Leaks back

leaky basement window More often than not, window leaks are caused by water coming through the window itself running along the frame and falling down behind the cosmetic part of the concrete that tapers up to the bottom of Window well with glass block the window. This type of leak can be water tested. The simple fix is to clean the frame and weather strip the window. The more expensive fix is to install a different type of window. A popular choice is glass block. Most other window leaks can be solved by an injection around the window area or repacking (pulling out) the cosmetic cement and replacing with epoxy polymer concrete (which will chemically bond with the old cement around the window). Another option is urethane injection. Part of the solution for the window (above-left) was to install a window well to keep moisture away from the window.

Beam Pockets back

Beam pockets leak 2 ways in a brick home, either water is running along the brick ledge or falling down behind the brick directly on to the steel beam and into the pocket from above. Water running along the edge can be stopped by a urethane injection. Water dropping directly down from above cannot. One way to determine which kind of leak it is would be to water test it with a garden hose.

Floor Leaks back

Floor leaks common to block and poured foundations are usually evidenced by water seeping in where the floor meets the wall. In a poured wall this can be because of a drain tile failure on the exterior perimeter drain. On a block wall, this can be evidence of either a drain tile failure or water coming in through the block. In either case it should be excavated and replaced the drain tiles and properly water proof the foundation wall or in some cases an interior drainage system will be equally effective.

Honey Combs back

Honey Combs occur when the sand and concrete paste do not thoroughly mix with the larger stone aggregate. This leaves several small interconnecting voids to the outside of the wall. Here are a few ways to solve this problem:

Urethane injection
Epoxy top coat
Excavation

Snap Ties back

Epoxy injection to fill the void surrounding the tie, this prevents water penetration and rusting of the metal allowing further water penetration.

An alternate method is to trowel epoxy over the tie in a thick layer.

Epoxy vs Polyurethane Injection

Pros and Cons of Epoxy vs. Polyurethane grout injection

Epoxy Injection	Polyurethane grout injection
Chemical weld of concrete	Mechanical control joint
Water tight	Can be Water tight
Gives concrete back structural integrity	No structural benefits
Will cure in the presence of water	Will cure in the presence of water
Not effected by thermal movement	Must withstand movement up to 600%
Not effected by ultraviolet rays	Breaks down by ultraviolet rays
Has a 45 year track record	has a track record of 14 years
Governed as a liquid until cure	N/A
99% concrete will fail before epoxy	100% will fail before concrete
Proven ACI specs	No ACI specs
Stronger than concrete	Weak tensile and elongation
Failed repairs easily diagnosed	Failed repair, difficult to repair
Makes durable monolithic structure	Must move without fatigue for life of structure
No difference open or closed thermal crack	Requires open thermal crack
May be gravity fed	Must be compression sealed
Can fill void up to 0.004 mm	Very difficult to get penetration in a small void
Very difficult to inject active cracks	Active cracks easily injectable