Base­ment Water­proof­ing Chica­go – Foun­da­tion Crack Repair

Oct 28, 2012 • By Matthew Stock.

There are many sources of water seep­age in a base­ment and some will occur only in base­ments of a par­tic­u­lar con­struc­tion. For exam­ple, in a foun­da­tion built of con­crete block, as is often found in the Mil­wau­kee and north­west Indi­ana areas, water can seep through mor­tar joints and through the rel­a­tive­ly porous con­crete block itself.

In Chicagoland, the major­i­ty of res­i­den­tial foun­da­tions are con­struct­ed of poured con­crete and those base­ments can expe­ri­ence seep­age through thin cracks in the wall caused by the pres­sure exert­ed by sat­u­rat­ed soil.

Either type of base­ment can be sub­ject to cove seep­age, water com­ing over top of the foun­da­tion due to grad­ing prob­lems or up through cracks in the floor.

How to do Foun­da­tion Crack Repair the Right Way

First, a brief his­to­ry of Chica­go base­ment water­proof­ing: The ear­li­est meth­ods of crack repair were either to dig a hole out­side the foun­da­tion and apply a coat­ing or to chip out the crack from inside and fill it with hydraulic cement. Then, crack injec­tion came along, with prac­ti­tion­ers using a two-part epoxy mate­r­i­al, inject­ed at low pres­sure from the inside, to fill cracks.

Many base­ment water­proof­ing con­trac­tors still use epoxy today. How­ev­er, epoxy crack repairs often fail because epoxy hard­ens to a rigid state and any fur­ther move­ment of the foun­da­tion will crack the epoxy, again allow­ing water to seep in. Addi­tion­al­ly, because the liq­uid epoxy does not expand when inject­ed and tends to set up quick­ly, it can­not fill the entire crack.

In Chica­go today, the tech­no­log­i­cal­ly pro­fi­cient base­ment water­proof­ing com­pa­ny will use expand­ing polyurethane to repair base­ment wall cracks. This mate­r­i­al has sev­er­al advan­tages for the homeowner:

Per­ma­nent Flex­i­bil­i­ty – The ure­thane used to repair base­ment wall cracks nev­er hard­ens to a rigid state. The mate­r­i­al, even when ful­ly cured, remains flex­i­ble so that it will allow slight fur­ther move­ment of foun­da­tion walls with­out crack­ing and allow­ing water to seep through.

Com­plete Seal – Because the ure­thane is an expand­ing com­pound, it will com­plete­ly pen­e­trate and fill the foun­da­tion wall crack all the way to the out­side soil. This forms a com­plete seal through­out the entire wall and ensures that there will be no fur­ther seepage.

Com­pat­i­bil­i­ty with Wet Sur­faces – Unlike epoxy, expand­ing ure­thane can be used in the pres­ence of water so that a seep­ing crack can be repaired before the prob­lem gets worse. An epoxy repair has to wait until the crack is com­plete­ly dry in order for the mate­r­i­al to bond with the concrete.

If you’re a Chica­go home­own­er and you dis­cov­er water in your base­ment com­ing from a foun­da­tion wall crack, which repair would you rather have? Want to take a chance that you’ll be repair­ing the crack again in the future? Want to keep mop­ping until the crack dries out?

If you want your crack repair done right (and right now) you’ll want a Chica­go base­ment water­proof­ing con­trac­tor that uses expand­ing ure­thane. At U.S. Water­proof­ing, we learned the advan­tages of ure­thane over epoxy long ago and we’ve repaired cracks for thou­sands and thou­sands of Chicagoland home­own­ers quick­ly, effec­tive­ly and per­ma­nent­ly. Why not sched­ule a free con­sul­ta­tion in your basement?

Tags: foundation cracks, basement crack, cracks in basement walls, interior foundation crack repair, urethane injection

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