I’d be grateful for any advice on this.
I recently noticed cracks in my foundation. They’ve been there for a while, I just noticed them while walking around the perimeter. It is not hard to see the cause: they emanate from a dryer vent put in the wall. We had a handyman put the duct to the vent in about 3 years ago, my wife claims there was already a vent there, and it does look like it preceded a paint job on the foundation about 4 years ago.
In any case most of the cracks are hairline but one is going up vertically along the lines of the foundation blocks and is a millimeter or two wide in places. It is clearly widening from the outside in as weather wears away the edges. The whole area around the dryer vent and main crack spreading from it (horizontally at first and then going up along the line between cinder blocks) has been patched with concrete, and sure enough the handyman billed us for a bag of concrete although this patch was never mentioned.
The upper part of the patch has broken off exposing the crack, perhaps this is why I didn’t see it earlier. But all of the patch is now flaking off and looks like a couple of good rainstorms will wash it away.
What course of action can people recommend? Reapply concrete every couple of years? Epoxy? Lift up the house and replace the foundation? It is certainly wide enough along the main crack to let insects in, at least on the outside. The internal space is a crawspace added during a kitchen extension by previous owners. We are planning to have someone insulate the crawlspace sometime this summer, and after that of course there will be nothing more to do from the inside.
I would really appreciate suggestions. I made the mistake of reading a book about renovating old houses, a whole chapter about jacking up houses to repair or replace foundations….
Replies
Get some urethane caulk and caulk what ever cracks you can see.
Go to a hobby store or if you have a kid in school have 'em borrow a microscope slide (the thing glass about 3/3" 3 2 1/2 inches) and epoxy it in place over the widest part of the crack.
Make sure you have positive grading and good water controls keeping water away from the foundation.
If the glass cracks before next fall, come on back.
In the alternative, you can jack up ....
Actually, sounds minor and typical, just keep an eye open and keep the water out.
BTW, what part of the country are you in? Do you get freezing soil? A lot of rain?
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A chapter.... Look for the pamplets.... lots less reading...
What is your foundation made out, cinder or crete block and how did the handyman put the hole thru? Or did he use the old vent?
Is there a tie beam?
How many block are cracked? Are the cracks radiating out from the vent hole only? Are there cracks elsewhere?
Short term... Patch
Long term... Change the block or core several holes along the top of the wall and fill the block cells with CC. Use vynal CC patch on the cracks. Follow the directions.
Might be more here than meets the eye.
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming....
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Man, don't read any books about surgery or you'll be itching to slice somebody open!
good advice above, minor fixes unless continues to get wore or leak water.
It is not concrete that was used to patch. Shouldn't be anyway. Should be simple mortar. One reason for it flaking away, is if he didn't have things clean when he mudded or the block was too dry and dusty and it sucked the life out of the bind. The chipped out material should be misted damp before patching, or use a bonding agent. You can chip out the loose and mix up some premix mortar mix to trowel on there. It would only continue to flaike out if the foundation is indeed moving.
There is one more thing I am wondering about though. Where this dryer vent penetrates the block wall is where the problem seems worst? Can you disconnect the hose and see if the hole is solidly lined all the way through, in good condition?
This is what I am suspecting;
He used a cheap AL duct to install in the hole and mortared around it. Since this is a repair of a previous job, you might be looking at a repeat performance going back several years, keep making the same mistake over and over.
See, the metal lining, in contact with the damp concrete, will rot out pretty quick. It should be a PVC lining through the wall.
So, if the duct has rotted out again, a lot of the moisture from the dryer can be getting into the concrete clock voids and condensing there. That would mean that you have those voids getting hot and moist and then freezing the moisture in the spaces of the crete and doing alll the damage that ice is famous for.
just guesswork, but I'll bet you a cup oif coffee that I'm right.
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Thanks all, I will do the caulking thing, but climb into the crawlspace sometime this weekend and investigate from that side.
Piffin's suggestion about moist air from the vent pipe sounds oh so plausible.
I am in Northern NJ. No earthquakes but we do have rain and ice (and I was wondering if the especially hard winter we just went through had something to do with the patch coming off).
This wall is near the upper grade end of the house, and we do have clay soil and high water table. We had French drains installed about 5 years ago on one wall, but I realized recently that they didn't do a good job of getting the drained water away from the house. It is flowing out near a corner through a leaking pipe into a drain that probably overflows when it rains. The paint is peeling off all around that corner, in some places following the line of the concrete blocks. The crack I've spoken about is around the corner from this mess. I had a guy out to estimate draining the other walls in the basement, I will ask him to try to connect up to the existing drains so I can get rid of that water, and if he can't I may just have him install over those drains. Boy I am getting tired of having to redo, or pay someone to redo, sloppy work!
I very much appreciate the fast responses and all the helpful suggestions. And I really wasn't serious about jacking up the house :-), I was just catastrophising...
catastrophising...
Oh Goody, I've got a new word!
Thankles
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I'm in earthquake country on expansive adobe. Around here there are companies that specialize in fixing this kind of thing. Where are you? Your seismic and soil issues will determine how important this really is. Bob's epoxy and glass test is an excellent idea if you have the time.
-- J.S.
The cracks you describe are minor and are typical for foundations that are more than a few years old. Unless the cracks are opening wide (wider than about 3/16") or there is some sort of "displacement" between the two sides of the crack (sliding relative to each other) then there's no structural problem.
Just caulk the cracks with a good exterior caulk. Be sure to clean the surfaces well first.