In this episode, Adam recounts an interesting case study about a swimming pool, bulkhead, and cold joint.
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 Daddy himself, Adam Tracy. Adam and The Crack Man Rich have over 30 years’ experience in the construction industry. Rich as over two5 years as the president and founder of A1 Foundation Crack Repair. This podcast 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: The case of the leaky cold joint in a bulkhead.
Narrator: So, Adam, you have an interesting case study to share today. Something about a swimming pool, bulkhead, and a cold joint? Sounds complicated. What happened there?
Adam: Yeah. This case study comes out of Billerica, Massachusetts, and this is not a very uncommon case that we see. This homeowner had a new patio put in around their in-ground pool. And to accomplish this new concrete patio, the bulkhead was going to sit too low relative to the patio in the house. And as most homeowners would do, it is to try to find a way to make that situation work rather than digging out the entire foundation in this area and replacing the bulkhead for thousands and thousands of dollars.
The recommendation by the contractor, rightfully so, was to raise the bulkhead top so that it is above ground. And so that water pooling wouldn't go over the metal doors and into the basement, which, of course, is the best thing to do. You obviously can't have the metal bulkhead below the waterline. Otherwise, you're always going to have water coming in under any snow or rain event.
They did the right thing by lifting the bulkhead up higher and placing a thin, probably about three to four inches of concrete above the existing poured concrete bulkhead. So that allowed them to get in that little extra height and have them set the rest of the patios ahead. The problem with that is that when they did this, the seam between the existing bulkhead and the topper that they used, the concrete topper to get a little extra height there was never actually sealed properly. And we see this a lot of times.
Now the water that gets in and now below ground in this area is now coming through the seam and the joints around the foundation of the bulkhead here. So, there's only really two ways to deal with it: either you break out the patio and you deal with it that way, which the guy just spent thousands of dollars to put in a brand-new patio for his new pool set up for the summer.
That was a non-starter. And the only other way for us to do this year would be to attack it from the inside. And so, there was enough space there and enough high strength concrete for us to do an injection process there. Sometimes the pad that they put on top is only an inch or two, and that wouldn't be strong enough to drill into and inject into because it would just break the concrete. We'd have to use different techniques, waterproofing on the interior side to make sure that water is not just coming through.
In this case, we treated it just like a cold joint where you would do an addition to a foundation, except it was an addition to the existing bulkhead. We're able to inject that area and fill that seam all the way around. One way a homeowner could do this preventatively before you get into the section where we need to come in is to make sure that when you do install a topper on your bulkhead that it is properly waterproofed on the exterior side and that they put in the sealants around the old to the new transition. Doesn't guarantee a perfect seal, and it doesn't guarantee it's going to be waterproof, but it's your best chance to do it preventatively. And if it does leak down the line, that's something that we can help you out with to inject or to do other methods to prepare.
This case was pretty relatively straightforward. There was no disruption to the brand-new patio and concrete pad outside. It was just sealing up that interior joint there. So, if you do get into these projects or need to raise your bulkhead, just think ahead of time as to what you might need to do to waterproof it on the exterior. And if you already did it and you're seeing water come through, let us know. We can get this done without doing any sort of digging out of the foundation or the bulkhead or breaking out any patios that you might have placed so we can leave everything intact.
At the end of the day, everything was resolved, and it was no headache for the homeowner. But it could have been a big issue if they had gone another way and tried to jackhammer out the entire area and resealed it from the outside. So don't immediately assume that you must do that. There are methods to do this with noninvasiveness on the outside. So happy homeowner, a nice dry bulkhead, and a beautiful new pool deck patio to enjoy for the summer.
Narrator: Well, thanks, Adam, for this interesting case study on a leaky bulkhead with a cold joint that is.
Narrator: If you have a basement water problem and think you need a crack repair professional near Hartford, CT, or, if you’d like more information on foundation crack repair and basement waterproofing topics, please visit A1FoundationCrackRepair.com or call (866) 929-3171. Or you can email info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.