Repair and Maintenance of Basement Concrete

There are many causes of basement foundation damage including improperly compacted fill soils, improper maintenance, and expansive clay.

There are many causes of basement foundation damage including improperly compacted fill soils, improper maintenance, and expansive clay. This type of damage can create unsafe condition in the building. You should contact a foundation expert the moment you notice this damage in order to prevent future problems.

What to Look For You will often see foundation distress in homes built on expansive soil. Some common problems that are seen with settling include cracked walls, doors that will not properly close, and bulging floors. You will see vertical cracks with settlement. Misaligned doors and windows, wall rotation, cracked bricks, cracks on the floor, displaced moldings, and separation around garage doors, windows or walls are all early signs of settlement problems.

Reasons for Foundation Settlement You will find foundation settlement most often in soil that has a high percentage of clay content. The tendency of these types of soils to move is transferred to a buildings foundation. The foundation is vulnerable to upheaval as these soils will move unevenly. You can have settlement problems in both pier and beam and slab foundations. If the soil moves evenly around the foundation you will not have settlement issues. You can also find rough floors, poor drainage, and tripping hazards with concrete slab settlement.

Liquid Concrete Repair (LCR) This system can repair concrete foundation leaks and cracks through the use of an epoxy injection system. The main components of this system are epoxy injection cartridges, epoxy crack sealer, and injection ports. LCR kits are sold which include sufficient material to fix an eight foot long foundation crack.

Repairing Sunken Concrete Old techniques for repairing sunken concrete were pretty much useless. The good news is that there are viable repair options available these days. Experts today use new technology to repair the sunken concrete. Slab-jacking, where grout is pumped beneath the sunken concrete to restore it to its original level, is the most popular technique used today. Another technique used when a building is in more distress is hydraulic jacking or piering. This technique stabilizes concrete slabs through the use of steel posts and hydraulic jacks.

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