I have a large crack in the concrete foundation wall of my one storey house. How can I repair it meaningfully?
Question:I want to avoid making it look like a sleazy coverup! It's visible from the ground about three feet up to the wood siding. Thanks in advance!
Answers:
I guess I don't seee where you said "block wall" Other than that if it is concrete there are a couple of fixes that can be used. They are called out below as quik crete, foam and or caulk.
I am more inclined to tell you to use an epoxy material to "glue" the crack back together. The crack should be cleaned to remove dirt, dust and insects. Then after it dries put duct tape over both side of the crack to form a dam. Leave access holes about 1' apart.
Go to Home depot and buy Set 22 epoxy cartridge and gun and shoot the epoxy into the crack. Patch each hole with a wood plug as yyou work up the crack.
After 24 hours you can pull the tape and apply a slurry of cement creme over the exposed epoxy to get it to blend.
NOTE instead of Duct tape to seal the crack a superficial patch about 1/2 inch deep on each side of the crack will work better.
If the crack is not still moving you can fill the crack with mortar or concrete depending on the width and depth. Mortar will fill a small crack and concrete mix for a wide crack . Quikcrete does make patching mortars that should match good. Same method of damn and fill only one side placing material full depth.
You can use Quick Crete, the stuff comes in a tub you put in a caulking gun. Squeeze it into the crack and use a putty knife to smooth it out. Once you have the wall all smooth again, choose a nice moisture sealing paint and paint the wall with it. =o)
The tube runs about $12 bucks or so.
Good Luck!
Is the crack in the blocks or the mortar? If it's the mortar, get a mosonry bit and drill out the old, then re-fill with new. Wont be able to tell unless someone is looking for it.
If it's in the blocks, you could fill in, but you would need to do a little cosmetic touch up and probably paint it to cover it up.
Your large crack may be a bigger problem that just caulking. You have had some settlement and have compromised the strength of the wall. This is what is needed; You will need to bust a hole on the face of the top blocks, 1 hole on either side of the crack. Fill the holes completely with bagged concrete mix following the mixing instructions. Once you have filled the blocks slide a piece of 1/2" re-bar down each well, re-bar can be 1' shorter than height of wall. Once all is hardened, mix 1 bag of cement to fill the puncture holes you made and the crack.
Expanding spray foam insulation makes an excellent crack filler -- cheap and fast -- especially if you paint the wall after filling -- the only way to really blend in the crack. After injecting the foam and it has become rock hard "saw" off the excess that "bubbles out" flush to the foundation with an old serrated knife -- rough sand a little if needed and paint to blend.
The real question is: Why is there a crack and is it still expanding?
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