That horizontal crack

Nuts! You’re selling your house and the inspection report comes back - you have a crack in the foundation wall, you need a structural engineering report and a repair estimate. Your first thought - Will this sale fall through (if you’re the seller)? Or is this the house worth buying? Fortunately, the inspector sent you to the right place.

Foundations cracks are not the end of the world but they sure feel like it. Dollar signs ringing in your ears - foundations are the most expensive thing to repair, right? This can be a disaster! But anybody who works in construction knows, everything is fixable. The question is, how expensive and intrusive is the repair?

Horizontal cracks are mostly caused by water pressure building up behind the foundation wall. Water pressure pushes inward, and the wall moves because there’s nothing on the other side pushing back. A foundation wall is essentially a retaining wall, holding back the soil that surrounds the house. It’s designed to handle the force of the dirt, but when water builds up behind it, that big thick concrete base of your house just can’t handle the pressure.

The sad thing is most of the time that crack in the wall was preventable. The biggest cause of foundation issues is poor water management. Clogged gutters, broken downspouts, damaged drainage tile, poor grading of the soil. Any of these items can cause water to stay near the foundation, or soften the soil under the footer causing it to sink. During the change of season, the water becomes ice which expands and compounds the problem. Cleaning downspouts and adding dirt next to your house is cheap, way cheaper than the $40,000 foundation wall rebuild the Basement Guy is recommending.

There is hope, however. Foundation walls can be rebuilt ($$$$) or they can be reinforced ($$). Or maybe the movement has just begun, and you can stop the damage. You may be able to seal the crack and just keep a close eye on it (¢¢).

Water is the number one cause of foundation issues but there are others. Tree roots too close to the house, backfill settling, water table changes,shifting soil, concrete slabs moving into the foundation wall, leakage areas that let in a flood, etc. etc.

I’ve seen a lot of companies that specialize in basement repair. Some of them are pretty good, some of them are one-size-fits-all. Some of them incentivize their salesmen to bring in revenue. Some of them offer 20+ year guarantees which require more work for them and more money from you. Any of them can address the issue, question is which is the best solution for you? A structural engineer provides more than a Professional Engineering report, it’s having an advocate who will champion your cause and can help protect you from hucksters and hacks. For the cost of a home inspection you have an experienced, licensed, structural professional who is in your corner. And that’s a great investment!