With time you will notice the foundation of your building showing some sign of cracking. While some may warrant calling the assistance of a professional, there are quite a few cracks that you could easily fix yourself.
A crack in the foundation could be caused by a shift in the balance of the soil or changing weather and also the weight of the structure on the foundation. Nevertheless, you can easily fix many cracks yourself most especially vertical cracks often caused by shrinkage.
If the crack is narrow and doesn’t show any signs of structural issues, you can repair it using a specialized Concrete Crack Repair epoxy. These epoxies are designed to fill and seal the crack, preventing water from seeping in and causing further damage.
Below are 8 tips you need in doing-it-yourself foundation cracks repair. Also, you can get foundation repair st louis.
Inspection
Inspect the cracks and check if it shows any sign of leaking. If it doesn’t then, you can proceed with doing it yourself but if it leaks then you might need the assistance of a professional.
Clean The Areas
After you have decided on doing it yourself, you will have to chip out any loose materials with a hammer and chisel. Then clean the dust from the cracks and the surface of the foundation. Now wet the cracks with a sponge, this is to allow the patching material to stick to the cracks.
Inserting The Injection Ports
This you need to be very careful with, you will have to insert the injection ports along the crack and apply a coat of the epoxy to the surface of the foundation. This is to create a seal that will prevent the bonding material from spilling out of the crack once injected. Make sure there are no gaps or bubbles in the epoxy seal.
Inject Epoxy
When the seal gets dry, start injecting epoxy into the crack. Begin at the injection port nearest the ground. Once the epoxy begins to run out, cap the lower part and move to the higher port till you finished with all the cracks.
Fixing Cracks From Exterior
You can also fix the cracks by going through this method. This involves excavating the entire outside of the wall where the cracks appeared. This means lots of work but very effective. So you need to remove everything in the wall such as landscaping, sidewalks, steps, porches, gardens, and so on. After that, install multiple layers of synthetic waterproof material to prevent any further movement of the water to lock water out from entering through the cracks.
After identifying cracks in the exterior, it’s essential to consider Foundation Repair to address underlying structural issues. This method requires extensive excavation of the affected area, involving the removal of landscaping, sidewalks, steps, porches, gardens, and more.
Caulking Cracks
You can caulk a crack foundation but then this repair method is highly debatable. This is because there is a higher risk of water filling the crack from behind the wall. And the caulk seal will be broken or peeled off by efflorescence which is a white powdery mineral salt that is deposited by the water.
Hydraulic Cement Crack Fillings
Chisel your cracks into inverted V-grooves and fill them with hydraulics cement. This strong cement will plug the hole very well, but the bonding will be poor. So, when temperatures and moisture levels fluctuate, the concrete wall will shift thus weakening the cement. Also, efflorescence can cause water to start leaking through the cracks.
Urethane Injection
Another tip in fixing a crack in the foundation of your home is injecting urethane. Urethane can flex slightly with wall movement, this allows it to last longer. Though it can expand, there are limits to its expansion and that may be a deal-breaker for a wider wall.
