Quote:
Originally Posted by gregorio
This is my first house and the first time I've ever seen the interior of a foundation wall. When I saw cracks I thought, ****, that can't be good, I'll have to fix that. But there doesn't seem to be a standard/simple fix for cracks on block foundations.
If the solution to my cracks is, "as long as water isn't coming in, don't worry about some vertical cracks in your foundation wall," then that's great. I just don't want to be the guy who doesn't know what he's doing and plows ahead and has to rip everything out in a few years to deal with something that should have been fixed in the first place.
WRT the densifier/sealers, they sound great and I had no idea they're not standard. I would just go ahead with it because why not spend a couple hundred dollars to get a wall that's denser, won't crack anymore and won't spall, except the walls were painted and I'd have to remove all the paint first. That seems like a lot of work, so if there's no real benefit, I won't bother.
I appreciate the feedback. I don't know wtf I'm doing, and it's great to be able to get advice from people with no financial incentive. I'm sure if I call in "Wise Cracks" or "The Crack Doctor" basement specialists for an opinion, they'll try to sell me on their sure fix that I absolutely need.
Speaking as a contractor of 20 years, if that were my house I would leave the wall cracks uncovered for the next 7 months, hope for a really wet spring, and see what happened. If water came in, I'd dig outside, put a good bitumen coating on the exterior, and install a French drain. Otherwise, I'd leave them alone because what I just described is expensive and a messy PITA that will wreck half your yard.
Then I'd carry on with whatever my basement plans were and not bother with densifiers and whatnot. They
may help as a sort of half-assed vapor barrier, but that's not really what they're made for. I would buy a hygrometer though, (less than $20 for a good one), and if my basement started getting > 60% humidity in the summer I'd put a dehumidifier down there, ideally drained directly to a sink or something so I wouldn't have to worry about emptying it.
There's always an outside chance those cracks will get worse some day and be a real problem, but it's slim and not worth worrying about imo.