In this episode, Richard Comeras (aks “The Crackman”) discusses creative DIY attempts to repair foundation wall cracks. Listen and enjoy!
Narrator: It’s time once again for the “Crack Man Podcast” hosted by A1 Foundation Crack Repair. We’re here with the Crackman himself, Rich Comeras. Rich has 30 years of experience in the construction industry and over 20 years’ experience as the founder and president of A1 Foundation and Crack Repair Inc. His podcasts provides expert basement water proofing, concrete repair, and preventative maintenance tips for homeowners and businesses. A1 Foundation’s excellent insight will help avert a disastrous flood within the basement, health problems associated with water infiltration within the basement, and protect your biggest investment….your home. The topic for today’s podcast: Creative DIY attempts to repair foundation wall cracks.
All right, as a homeowner Rich, I’ll be the first to admit that I always try to fix things on my own before I call in a pro to laugh at my handywork. I’ll be you’ve seen some whopper DIY jobs in your 30+ years in the business, huh?
Crackman: I have and I enjoy watching and seeing new and creative ways that homeowners and contractors try to repair leaking foundation cracks. I have four of them today that I have seen used pretty much on a regular basis. The first one is that they use a product called “Flexseal”. You might have seen this on TV. It a gentleman advertising this magic that you can paint or roll on anything and it will stop water. This is that guy that cuts a boat in half then puts this Flexseal on and he rides over the water and starts yelling about how happy he is that it stopped leaking. So that’s the first one…the use of Flexseal. It just makes our job a little harder when it on there. Another creative way that I’ve seen people deal with it is they’ll put a rag in the crack and then they’ll put that rag into a bucket at the bottom. The rag works as a wick and allows the water to go down through the rag and into the bucket. They call that the “wick method” of solving a crack repair. It’s a temporary method. And then I’ve seen people for the third method put little pieces of wood into the crack with the hope that the wood is going to expand and stop the water from coming in. Well, it will expand but if there are any gaps or anything where it does not expand enough then water is just going to come in. I call that the “wood plug” method. Another method that is used all the time is they’ll put hydraulic cement into the crack. A lot of time is just like on the surface of the crack. In hydraulic cement they say your just supposed to chip out some and do it at a certain angle. Well, hydraulic cement is intended for an emergency, and even if it stops it, it will stop it today but it will leak again because concrete does expand and contract. When you put this hydraulic cement in, it acts as a rock and then the concrete moves, expands, and contracts and your problem is back again. So those are some of the things I see out there people trying to fix a leaking foundation concrete wall.
Narrator: All right, how about we do this? How about we use that wood plug, then seal it with hydraulic cement, and then paint over it with Flexseal, and then for any remaining drips we use the wicking method to drop the water into a bucket. Would that work?
Crackman: I haven’t seen it work on a permanent basis because I’m getting called all the time. All these things don’t work on a permanent basis.
Narrator: Very interesting stories, Rich. Thanks for sharing these amusing vignettes and hopefully all these DIY’ers out there will spare themselves some misery if they have a leaking foundation wall crack. It really takes special equipment and training to fix them properly for the long term.
If you have a basement water problem and think you need a professional, or, if you’d like more information on foundation repair and waterproofing topics, please visit A1FoundationCrackRepair.com or call Rich at (866) 929-3171. Or you can email rich at info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.