The hotel renovation business was slow for me this year, so I had some time on my hands while the kids were at school. My basement has a cold joint in the poured foundation that has weeped ever since we bought the house (almost killed the deal, but the house was 2 blocks from the kids school, & we were staying with my MIL….).
The previous HOs had done a sloppy patch job on the wall, so one day I thought I’d chip off the patch, investigate the damage, & maybe get one of those nice epoxy crack injector kits & try & seal it off right.
I started chipping, but got tired of wet sludge on my shirt, so I had the bright idea of drilling a 1/2 ” relief hole down by the floor, to let the seepage drain in a controlled way. Ten minutes with the trusty AEG & bit, & here comes the flood (see the pics). I’m sure I’ve hit a water line (the water coming out is clear as daylight), but there is NFW, given the layout of the house. Well, no worries mate, it’ll just run down the channel to the floor drain…not!! (see my New York plumbing post).
Basement starts to fill up…I do the Dutch boy act, grab a scrap of wood, whittle a plug, pound her in, and catch my breath; then spent the next 2 hours with 2 jugs, must have drained 100 gallons into the sump pit before the reservoir ran down to the level of the hole. Rain or shine, ever since then, I pull the plug & out comes the flood.
I spent lots of time on the web, checking out structural crack repair kits (Hilti no longer carries the kit, just bulk lots of epoxy, ports, etc. plus expensive guns).
Been putting it off, hoping it’ll dry out a bit more this summer….not!
Last week, a neighbors’ having some flatwork done down the street, & so I end up chatting with the concrete guy, ask him if he knows anyone up here that carries professional grade crack repair stuff…no, but he has the RIGHT way to fix it.
Chip out the crack, with a nice dovetail, from above outside grade & down to the slab, & chip out about a square foot of the slab. Get a piece of 3/4 plastic hose, bed it in the crack & down into the gravel below the slab. Mud up the slab & a foot or so up the wall, pull up the hose, & repeat the process till above outside grade. Water drains down the hose hole, & off to the sump pit.
I’m thinking, sounds brilliant…but will it work.
What do you all think, & what kind of mortar would you use. I spent ten minutes at the HD, looking at Sikka’s quick patch, and Quickcretes’ different offerings-non shrink grout, waterstop, patching cement- and walked away wishing manufacturers had to list ingredients…sometimes I think Quickcrete has 1 mix, & just puts it in different bags (cynical, I know….)
I’m gonna try the hose thing, but can’t decide on the mortar…I’m leaning toward the NS grout, but I could be convinced otherwise…..
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Please continue to share this one.
I am sure we can all learn from it, especially the pictures
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Might be a while....I'm off after the Glorious Fourth for a 2 month Ballroom Re-do in Maryland...no more Mr. Mom for a break!!!
I did find a good deal (if it's as advertised)- $300 for a new Hitachi H60MB demo hammer, shipping included off Ebay, so when I get back & the kids are back to school, I'm gonna have at it.
No advice from the master on what kind of mortar to use?...I only want to do this once....
Waterplug is what we call it. I'd have to run out to the shop for the exact label name.It's hydraulic ceement - expands as it cures, so packing it into a more or less dovetail crack will seal up nice and tight.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Thanks...
I've often wondered if it actually expands, or just doesn't shrink...if the latter, non-shrink grout should work as well, with the advantage that it comes in 50lb. bags that cost the same as a tub of waterplug....
Hydraulic cement does expand as it cures and it cures very quickly--even when under water. I think it would be stronger than grout. I would think this isn't something you want to save a couple bucks on and have to re-do it later.
Well, your right on the few bucks part....just wish someone could give me the chemistry angle.....how about a "what's the difference " piece in FHB ?
the concrete guy . . .has the RIGHT way to fix it.
LOL
That's not the RIGHT WAY. That's the CHEAP WAY. Heck, it doesn't even fix it, it just gives the water a way to move down the inside of the wall to below the slab instead of visibly down the walls' face to the top of the slab.
The right way requires keeping water from ever getting into the basement in the first place.
Excavate outside the wall down to the footing at the crack, find the source of the water and fix it. While you're down there put a burrito'ed drain to open air in and fix the crack by chipping a groove and using an expanding cementuous crack filler.
100 gallons every hour or two? How long is your sump pump gonna last under that load? Electrical costs? Emergency generator? Still won't dare to finish or store anything in the basement, because, just in case.
Well, yup...except the crack is on the wall with the attached garage, and I'm not ready to dig up that slab, yet. Murphy's Law in full force, here....dagnabit....
I get the 100 gallons after it sits for a week or so, accumulating head pressure....Sumps run pretty constant up here anyway, so adding some more flow doesn't worry me.
I'm pretty sure, given where the (no longer attached) downspout leaders are that what I've got is a nice void where the old , deteriorated, clay tile runs under the garage slab, & that just fills with ground water.