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Our home was newly constructed fifteen years and there were two hair line cracks in the poured concrete basement with minimal water leakage. The builder hired a company that did an epoxy injection and the cracks have been fine except a couple months ago we discovered one new crack and the previous one had some brown infliltration at the bottom about 8" up.
We hired a structural engineer who advised us that there were no structural defects. We hired the concrete company that did the original injections who advised us that the basement wall was so long that the builder should have used reinforcements and that was causing the cracking. He suggested a polyurethane injection on the previous crack which is about midway and an epoxy injection in the new crack; the polyurethane injection for flexibility as there could be on-going movement on one crack and epoxy in the other for strength.
The next day both cracks still had the brown deposit at the bottom and were damp. I suspect the cracks weren't properly cleaned out before the injections. I contacted the owner who came out to examine the cracks and just said he will send someone out again and they will fox it. He said he would not charge me until completed.
So, I am unclear on how this should be fixed. I am afraid there will be some type of patch job. Should all the existing injections be redone?
Are the cracks in question all in the foundation walls and or are there slab cracks that are an issue?
Also, a little confused about the engineers comments about the wall being too long without adaquate reinforcement? If that’s the case, then it is a structural issue, if not, it could be an expansion/contraction issue.
The first rule about concrete is that it always cracks! The main reasons for cracking are usually expansion/contraction and it usually occurs wherever there’s a change in mass/shape. There are other reasons such as shrinkage cracks, cold joints, settlement or structural deficiencies due to a lack of reinforcement or the strength of the particular concrete mix. Usually a visual inspection by a knowledgeable person can pinpoint the suspected problem. Monitoring the crack can determine if the crack is active, meaning that it’s continuing to move.
Are the cracks in the foundation walls or in the slab?
The foundation wall but intrusion is where slab meets wall and about 8" up the crack; no standing water just moisture; have a sump pumb and water flows into sump pump.
If not then just monitor the cracks for further activity.
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