Does anyone have any recommendations on the suitable repair of a foundation wall crack? The house is 3 years old and I recently exposed (it is a finished basement) a section of wall to investigate a leak and found a foundation wall crack from top to bottom. The more disconcerting point is that the crack started in a pocket shelf that supports the main structural I-beam of the house so I am not sure if I am dealing with just an ordinary crack repair, or if I should be concerned with the structural integrity of the pocket. The crack starts right at the point where the I-beam as shown in the attached photos…
Thanks, Tom
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Have you contacted the builder?
Yes, the are recommending filling in the crack with a Sika USA injection epoxy, but I was wondering what other's opinions were about the structural integrity of the pocket given the location relative to the I-beam
Regular shrinkage cracks occur more frequently at stepped wall sections, window wells and sometimes beam pockets. If the concrete is up to spec (say 2500 psi or greater) and there are no serious voids in the wall under the beam pocket, you should be alright. Just check for any ongoing differential movement of the two sections of wall.
Thanks. The wall seems fine with the exception of the crack. THere is no lateral or horizontal displacement. The crack first fissured along a seem where two forms met (there is a small flat metal bar in the seam; possibly a form spacer or something?) and the crack started at that metal bar and progressed from there.
The builder will hire a guy to come out and do a Sika injection epoxy fix. Reading up on the epoxy it appears to have te right material properties to ensure structural integrity; do you have any experience with this?
What I really need to decide is if I should hire an independent structural engineer to assess the issue - if this is a fairly standard problem and solution, then maybe I don't need to... Thoughts?Thanks,Tom
This is a fairly common problem. The epoxy injection has about 90-95% success rate. Once it has set and before you close in the wall again, run a hose at ground level in the vicinity of the crack for an hour or more to really saturate the soils and observe at the interior for any leakage.
From what you say about no displacement, this crack appears to have nothing to do with structural integrity but merely happened at this location. It's very rare that I don't find normal shrinkage cracks as I inspect houses!!
Did they come out & take a look at it? If the house is only 3 years old, it should still be under warranty & his job to fix it.
Edited 5/22/2006 10:37 am ET by Soultrain
I don't see any photo's...but if the wall below the beam pocket is cracked from the top to bottom could the weight have pushed down into a bad footer?.......and what's going on above the beam? First floor sag?
Is the block wall poopin out? or still flat?
Before you do the easy repair I'd make reasonably sure what caused the crack in the first place.
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