All Forum Posts by: John P.

I had another contractor come in.  This contractor pointed out that my foundation has already been repaired once.  They fixed it from the inside based on the size of the bush directly in front of the crack.  That tells me my initial fear about just patching from inside will cause the water to find another weak spot in the foundation and create a 3rd crack.

This contractor had a combination of the previous two contactors.  He said he would dig down, fill the crack, tar the crack, and put visqueen (sp) down.  He would also make sure that the drain tile was not clogged.  He said that when the house was built, typically they use pea gravel.  Over years, the pea gravel clogs with dirt and the water can't drain.  This causes the soil to saturate and water to be against the foundation.  Over years of the freeze/thaw cycle any imperfections in the foundation fill with water and then when it freezes the ice expands further weakening the imperfection until a crack forms.  He said now they use a larger gravel that doesn't clog as fast.  Either way it should be fix that will last my time in the house 10 to 15 years .

This sounds like the most holistic approach.  Fix the crack on the exterior so water doesn't come in at all and then all mitigate the water drainage issue so the water just doesn't move to the next weak spot.

I will check the grading on that wall first and then the rest of the house when it warms up.  

It seems the consensus is to dig out soil at the crack and the seal the outside with a tar like substance.  Maybe put some visqueen (sp) over that and fill the hole back in.  Then grade the slope away from the foundation.  If that doesn't solve all of it, then maybe the interior solution the 2nd contractor said.

Any suggestions on contractors for doing the digging?  The one that wanted to dig, said he had to dig about 2 1/2 feet on each side of the crack and then 8 ft out.  so a 5ft by 8 ft 10 ft deep is a little much for me through frozen clay.  I'm getting older and it's hard for me to dig 3 ft deep when the clay is loose in the summer.

I live north of Detroit in Rochester MI.  With the recent snow melt, I saw water under my refrigerator in the basement.  I moved the refrigerator and have a crack from the top of the foundation to the floor.  It is a very slow leak only when the soil is severely saturated with water.  Luckily this happened in my storage area and not the finished area.

I have had two contractors come out and suggest very different solutions under $2k. 

One was to dig it out and seal it.  I assume the crack would no longer leak, but the water in the soil would just find another hairline crack and I would be in the same situation eventually. 

The other was to mitigate the water pressure by tying the leak into my foundation sump system.  Then seal the crack on the inside.  This would allow the water to continue to come in, but go straight to drainage so I don't have it in the basement.

I am not sure what is the proper way to fix a cracked foundation permanently.  This is my home.  This is not a rental.  I am not going to be selling for 15 years or so.  I do not want to revisit this issue.  I want it fixed permanently with quality.

Can someone give me an idea of what is the proper way to fix a foundation crack/leak?  Does anyone have any recommendations for foundation repair contractors that service Rochester?

Thank You

Does anyone know of a website or who in the government I can talk to get find out who owns a condo in Oakland County Michigan?  I don't see anything on the Register of Deeds website.

Thank you