If you put a jar of turkey stock in the freezer after Thanksgiving and make the mistake of overfilling the jar, the jar will break. So, could the same thing happen to a basement if you have a water leak and a hard freeze?
Narrator: It’s time once again for the “Crack Man Podcast” hosted by A1 Foundation Crack Repair. I’m Darren Kincaid here with the Crack Man himself, Rich Comeras. Rich has 30 years’ experience in the construction industry and over 25 years as the president and founder of A1 Foundation Crack Repair. This podcasts provides expert basement waterproofing, concrete repair, and preventative maintenance tips for homeowners and businesses. A1 Foundation’s valuable insight will help avert a disastrous flood within the basement, health problems associated with water infiltration, and protect your biggest investment….your home. The topic of today’s podcast: How basement leaks can ruin your foundation during the winter.
Narrator: So Rich, I put a jar of turkey stock in the freezer after Thanksgiving and I made the mistake of overfilling it, and the jar broke. I’ve got a big frozen block of stock inside with a shattered glass jar, only to toss it, of course. So it got me thinking, could the same thing happen to a basement if you have a water leak and a hard freeze?
Rich: Yeah, it actually does. Recently got a call from a woman in Waltham, MA and she was telling me that she had a little bit of water coming in. Then all of a sudden, we heard a “BOOM”! That was when we got cold out and the ground started to freeze. This has happened a few times.
She says, I heard a BOOM downstairs, she went downstairs with the phone and she found that there’s another crack, and that was actually the concrete cracking. So, what happens is in the winter you have some freeze, some thaw, some rain. Well, soils, they’re kind of like a sponge, there’s voids and they retain water. As we all know, when water freezes, it expands, and when it expands, it can push against the foundation and cause a crack. Because concrete’s strong if you push it down, not so strong unless a natural construction pushing it in, because there’s no requirement to put rebar in there as there is for commercial construction.
So that’s the situation with poured concrete letting water in, and similar thing happens with stone foundations. If you look at stone foundations which were built 80 to over 100 years ago, there’s mortar in between the stones which is like the glue that holds everything together. That mortar breaks down, you can actually see a powdery material on the floor, and when that breaks down and water’s coming through, you can have problems. It doesn’t matter if it’s poured concrete foundation or stone foundation. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, or Connecticut. That water can cause problems. What kind of problems?
One, it can create mold because mold needs a water source to grow, which then can create health issues, which also can cause problems on the resale of the house. So those are a few of the areas that you’re going to have problems with on the mess that you’re going to have from these things leaking. And I will say there’s two kinds of cracks – ones that leak, and ones that are going to leak. So, if you are selling a house, a homeowner is afraid of cracked foundations because even if they don’t leak today, they’re afraid they’re going to leak tomorrow or sometime in the future.
Narrator: Thanks, Rich. Excellent advice and thanks for explaining the hazards of basement water leaks during the winter.
Narrator: If you have a basement water problem and think you need a professional, or, if you’d like more information on foundation crack repair and basement 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.