Epoxy to the RESCUE!!

[E.intheC]

I'm sure most people reading this thread right now are aware that it's RAINING outside. TONS.

My wife and I moved in to our house a few months ago and are still getting making improvements/fixing it up to our liking. It's mostly cosmetic upgrades, but the house was built in the 20s.

One area I didn't plan on improving, however, was the basement walls...

Long story short, there was a crack in the cement block along our back wall, and we came down to check on things (slight flooding has been an issue recently, that we thought was fixed, but we wanted to be sure).. to a HOLE that was POURING water onto our floor. Quickly. (!!)

My wife grabbed a 5 gallon paint bucket (which would have been filled in about 10 minutes) to temporarily catch the water. This could have been a huge problem, however I grabbed some epoxy left over, and bam. Problem "solved".. at least until a more permanent solution can be found.:lol:

 

[batt600]

Is this a crack in the basment wall

 

[E.intheC]

Yes. Kind of. It's more of a hole.. it's about 3 inches long, not very wide. The only part that was leaking water was a circle diameter of about 1/4 inch.

 

[batt600]

You can fill it with silicon when it stops raining or that liquid foam.

 

[E.intheC]

That's an idea. The crack itself is not a structural issue (which is a darn good thing) but it still requires attention. I doubt the putty will last long.

 

[skene]

E... I'm going to have to let you know if you are having integrity with the wall there is only one way to remedy this. You are going to need to repair the wall from the outside.
This will involve having the ground (if the damaged location is underground) dug up and the wall repaired. Otherwise it should still be repaired from the outside in. There is no telling how much real damage was done by water saturation in the wall itself.

 

[strgazr27]

E... I'm going to have to let you know if you are having integrity with the wall there is only one way to remedy this. You are going to need to repair the wall from the outside.
This will involve having the ground (if the damaged location is underground) dug up and the wall repaired. Otherwise it should still be repaired from the outside in. There is no telling how much real damage was done by water saturation in the wall itself.

100% correct. I went through this 2 years ago. My house is old enough for a block foundation. Had to dig down 5 feet around the entire perimeter of the house outside. Wound up applying a new layer of tar and vapor barrier. Dug it myself, NOT FUN. Really is the only way to correctly fix the issue. Hydraulics from water can do some ugly things to foundation walls if not fixed correctly.

Anything you do inside is merely a band-aid on an outside problem. And silicone is perhaps THE WORSE fix as the concrete is porous and will likely never dry completely enough for the silicone to be effective. Hydraulic pressure from the leak can/will push right past the silicone.

 

[masterswimmer]

E... I'm going to have to let you know if you are having integrity with the wall there is only one way to remedy this. You are going to need to repair the wall from the outside.
This will involve having the ground (if the damaged location is underground) dug up and the wall repaired. Otherwise it should still be repaired from the outside in. There is no telling how much real damage was done by water saturation in the wall itself.

+1

100% correct. I went through this 2 years ago. My house is old enough for a block foundation. Had to dig down 5 feet around the entire perimeter of the house outside. Wound up applying a new layer of tar and vapor barrier. Dug it myself, NOT FUN. Really is the only way to correctly fix the issue. Hydraulics from water can do some ugly things to foundation walls if not fixed correctly.

Anything you do inside is merely a band-aid on an outside problem. And silicone is perhaps THE WORSE fix as the concrete is porous and will likely never dry completely enough for the silicone to be effective. Hydraulic pressure from the leak can/will push right past the silicone.

+1


Hope you follow these recommendations as they are 100% accurate.

Russ

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

+1




+1


Hope you follow these recommendations as they are 100% accurate.

Russ

+2..ALWAYS better safe than sorry. Good luck bro!

 

[masterswimmer]

+2..ALWAYS better safe than sorry. Good luck bro!

Don't mean to nit pik, but this is the only way to do it correct. Silicone on the inside can actually be worse than doing nothing at all. If you use silicone, it might mask the problem as it gets worse and worse on the outside of the foundation wall. If you did nothing, the leak would compel you to fix it properly sooner.

Russ

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Don't mean to nit pik, but this is the only way to do it correct. Silicone on the inside can actually be worse than doing nothing at all. If you use silicone, it might mask the problem as it gets worse and worse on the outside of the foundation wall. If you did nothing, the leak would compel you to fix it properly sooner.

Russ

Oh without a doubt Russ. The silicone would also redirect the water to go a different way which could lead to causing a bigger hole or damaging a different part of the house. I worked on a house and someone siliconed a leak that was coming through the ceiling of their basement which was at ground level. It ended up making the water go into the ceiling above instead of dripping down into the basement. Then it gets moldy and you have to replace the whole ceiling..not fun. Be very careful Eric and make sure it is all checked out by a professional.