One can imagine a homeowner’s chagrin when they go down to their beautiful, flawless basement and suddenly find cracks in their basement walls and foundation. In this episode, The Crackman explains why a pristine foundation would suddenly start to crack.
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: My beautiful foundation, why is it starting to crack?
Narrator: So Rich, I can imagine a homeowner’s chagrin when they go down to their beautiful, flawless basement and suddenly find cracks in the basement walls and foundation. What can be going on there?
Rich: I’ve been getting these calls. Got one this morning from Providence RI, got another one from Oxford MA. Now, people have been in the house 20 years, 30 years and they never saw these cracks. All of a sudden with this cold snap they’re seeing cracks. I can tell you that it happens, and the reason that happens is if you go back to your elementary Science class and you look at the changes between ice and water.
Ice expands, water expands when it turns to ice and it pushes up against the foundation wall. And so if there’s a little tiny hairline crack or less, and you have this soil that’s been saturated with water. We know that soil has some water in it, it freezes, it expands, pushes up against the concrete, and can cause that crack. That’s one of the reasons why during the winter I always hear, “I don’t remember seeing that crack”.
And we know what happens with a crack, that there ar two kinds of cracks: ones that are foundation wall cracks that leak, and ones that are going to leak. And I say that because the water gets into the crack freezes and opens it up more and more. They can be repaired with a warranty. Or you can take the homeowner special, people go down to Home Depot, buy some hydraulic cement, throw it in there, and they’re calling me back. They’re calling me and saying, “Jeez, I tried to fix it and I couldn’t”, and they have tried hydraulic cement. We fix it by an injection process using electric pumps and pumping the material into the crack, and it’ll be warrantied.
Narrator: Thanks Rich for explaining why a pristine foundation will suddenly start to crack.
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.