Now that the water and foundation gradient issue was fixed outside I could now feel confident repairing the foundation cracks. the last thing I wanted was to waste supplies and work because moisture or water inhibited a good bond on the exterior or interior of the crack.

The Problem

Now when I say Foundation wall cracks they are not that wide, long yes, but wide no. Of the 3 main cracks, none were wider that 4 millimeters at a given point. These are also vertical cracks. Initially most would think to go grab some hydraulic cement and pack it in there to let it do its thing. My issue is that that seems to be what was done the first time. Hydraulic Cement is pretty easy to distinguish because of its brittleness compared to the poured foundation and texture. What seems to have happened is the previous repair was done a long time ago. Long enough that the house has shifted enough to separate its once secure bond. This meant that I could either try and chisel out the old cement and grind the opening down to cram in another batch of cement or look for a more modern remedy. 

This is what brought me to my decision. I was not going to chisel that much crack…….terrible sentence…….and plus there would be a good chance I would be doing it all over again in a few years. No, this calls for something better. First of all, I didn’t like how the hydraulic cement only bonded to that which you could penetrate. That’s 2 inches tops of a typical 12inch poured foundation. This meant little strength in shifting.

The Solution

Today I read there are newer preferred options forthese repairs, Polyurethane and Epoxy Injection. The difference isn’t that much. If you’re like me you may have already opened up a couple other tabs to dive down the rabbit hole of research to find out the exact specs and differences so I’ll keep it simple here.Essentially Epoxy is more elastic holding it’s bond better and tighter but takes longer to cure while Polyurethane sets up quicker but doesn’t have as strong of a bond. Epoxy for Structural Cracks,Polyurethane for Non–Structural cracks. Here, this might drive it home.

Now that you got a quick lesson on foundation repair lets now focus on execution. No matter what brand you choose the same basic methods apply.

The Proceedure:

• Adhere your injection port holes–putty the remaining crack liberally (Don’t forget the base crack when wall meets floor a good couple inches wide)
• Also seal off the exterior crack if it is visible from outside.(injection will just flow right out otherwise)
• Inject you resin starting at the bottom–once resin appears in port above injection, cap off the one you are pumping through and start injecting in the next port above.
• Let injection cure for specified number of days–pry off the ports and sand down the putty until smooth with wall.

Tips:

Lessons I learned despite careful research. Do not underestimate the penetrating power of Epoxy. This stuff with flow and fill the faintest crack which means there could be other cracks not visible from the outside where it will find its way down to the floor and start pooling, waste. This is why I stressed the putty at the base of the crack along the wall/floor joint. One of my cracks I was very careful of this while the other I wasn’t. I didn’t have a huge pool of waste but some did make it’s way down and out. Pretty incredible stuff and stronger than concrete when cured. Yes this is much more expensive but compared to my other option it was a no brainer. cost about $250 for 3 crack kit.

The cracks are now done while I still just need to sand down. I tried to scrape the putty off but that seems harder than the concrete and takes some of that off before breaking on itself. Going to try a grinder with a sandpaper bit next.

What’s next….Ah yes, the floors. Where to start with the floor.