Crack in the basement floor.... How serious is it???
goldeneyedaisy
16 years ago
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ctlane
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Basement finishing on a serious budget
Comments (8)Your ideas sound great. I would love to hear feedback on those because I have the same situation in my basement. Walkout with a fireplace and plumbed for a downstairs bathroom. Husband thought he could do the job but he has quickly lost interest and the materials are just sitting there (he only bought enough to get started)- Most of the walls in our basement are cement with a little framed and insulated. I was trying to figure out how to do the electricity down the cement walls if we didn't do drywall....See Morefound dream home, but crack down wall in basement...
Comments (15)we have just been thru almost the same thing - we found a home in the school district we want, in a nice neighborhood where homes dont come up for sale all that often. however it is a contemporary style home (which I donÂt love) and itÂs got a vertical crack in the corner of the foundation and there is some sagging of floors and some drywall cracks. neighborhood scuttlebutt about the house was really scary, it was falling off the hill, one estimate for repairs was reported to be $80K, in a prior foreclosure the house had been virtually destroyed by the POs, rumour rumour etc however, the house was priced in the 160s in a neighborhood of 200+K homes. we made an offer on the house and negotiated a lower price. we were not afraid at all to do this because our contract had a contingency clause that required the home/structural inspection to be satisfactory to us. we were candid with the sellers, that if the structural insp was ugly, we would use that clause. we found a structural inspector ( actually, I knew him personally bc I had tutored his kid for ACT and SAT) but anyway he had a great reputation and was highly qualified. by this I mean: he has a masters in engineering from stanford. he is licensed and registered in 5 states he teaches the classes in which home inspectors get certified he worked for the army corps of engineers for many years on big projects heÂs has done almost 10,000 home and structural inspections heÂs a nationally recognized expert - teaches and testifies on "foundation and structure movement and repairs - their recognition, causes and cures." heÂs an active member in several professional societies like the NatÂl Society for Professional Engineers and the American Society for Home Inspectors some other things I find charming about him: he likes puzzles. some realtors are irritated by him because he uncovers stuff they would rather he didnÂt, and **included in his services are return site visits while and after the work is done - he will provide a final letter, with professional engineer stamp, certifying that the repairs have been performed as recommended and the structure is now structurally stable.*** Love him!! IÂm sorry if this sounds like spam, IÂm just a big fan. I get this enthusiastic about Mike Holmes on Holmes on Homes too!! if you choose a structural inspector, make sure he's qualified! it turned out that there were actually 2 problems causing the visible problems. the front foundation wall of the garage was being moved by the soil pressure - the fix is actually suprisingly low cost. the buttress that resists the hill should have been around 5 feet thick, it was only 1 foot thick. The fix is to cut slots in the garage wall, fill them with rebar and cement, creating piers. Then they will make the wall stable by adhering a carbon fiber mesh to the wall that keeps the wall from flexing. Lastly they will put 3 helical tie-backs thru the wall into the soil (anchors). The second issue is that there is insufficient support for a couple of loadbearing walls, causing the sagging in hte floor and some cracks in the drywall. So, we have to add 2 beams in the ceiling of the garage and one beam in the basement. we didn't know before the inspection what to expect in terms of costs, we were thinking it was probably somewhere between $20 and $80K to fix, depending on what they found. The cost for all this work is estimated to be $16K not the rumoured 80K. It helps the cost that the work can be done from the garage and basement, not inside the home. no excavation. We insisted the seller come down on the cost in the amount of the repairs and she came pretty close (within $3000 of it). We are aware that we are assuming a risk - that something unforseen may turn out to be very expensive. But we have done what we can to minimize the risk. i think you can put in an offer with the contingency clause without fear. then you have time to do the structural inspection with a skilled engineer and worst case scenario you are out the money you spent on the inspection. then, fully informed, you can be completely anxious about the next bit ;) for us, we feel that the low price of the home (we are paying 30%less than recent appraisal) and paying 40% less than most other homes in the neighborhood - is an offset for the risk also, since it's a desirable neighborhood with good resale, we feel that we can invest some $ and not price ourselves out of resale value also, the estimates for the repairs came back suprisingly low. our lowest estimate was $12K, but we have better references for the $16K contractors, so we're going with them. i am wondering how much more cracking and shifting will happen when the beams are put in, since the house may be slowly readjusted, but we know that it may happen. we may also have to live with a small amount of sagging - the house most likely cannot be returned to itÂs original alignment, but the cracking in walls will be arrested. HTH - sorry for the wordiness, IÂm just house-obsessed right now. we should close at the end of the month, and the structural work will start immediately - so I can report back when itÂs done and let you know what the rest of the experience has been like :) Good luck with your decision!...See Morecracks in basement floor
Comments (1)jal, Drylok will not work unless you make the crack wider. This happened to me in a house I used to own. I used a hammer drill and made the crack wider, at least a 1/2" wide. Then I filled the crack with drylok... it worked. Not a clean job though, try to keep the floor wet were your working, it keeps the concrete dust down. There might be an easier way to get the crack wider but this worked. Also, when your all done find out where outside the water is draining to the house and change the grade so it doesn't anymore.... course 9" is a lot of rain.... Thanks Dave...See MoreHow to Fix a Crack in a Concrete Basement Floor?
Comments (7)Best way to do this is to chase the crack with a chisel and clean up the edges. Buy 1/4-1/2" closed cell backer rod, you can get it on amazon for $6. Put that inside the crack along entire length about 1/2" deep and in the same place you can order and get Quikcrete Cement Crack Filler (home depot might be cheaper for this item) You can also use Sika or Quikrete self leveling concrete filler it sold in most Home depot stores HD also sells the backer rod, but I'm not sure if they have 1/4" or 1/2" I think they only have 3/4"... just make sure to get the one intended for concrete not windows (frost king brand), it would be Sika brand usually, they would know "hopefully". Good luck...See Moreannzgw
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