Basement Base Repair: What You Need to Know

As a home ages and settles in, you will inevitably see the basement foundations. The first step in basement foundation repair begins with evaluating the cause and severity. If possible, you should first fix what caused the damage and then repair the damage that was caused. Once you have repaired the source that caused the damage, you can either repair the foundation yourself or hire a contractor who specializes in repairing the foundation, especially if it is a serious repair. There are several reasons why your basement foundation needs to be repaired.

Aging

This is a frequent cause of problems with your base. In old houses, bricks or stones were used to build basement walls. The bricks and stone were assembled with mortar. It will eventually crack, causing older walls to buckle and begin to leak. If the old brick or stone basement walls are structurally sound, the foundation repair should be easy to fix. You will need to remove the old mortar and replace it with a pointing trowel. If the walls are sagging, you may need to attach them to a concrete base or replace them. Both require a licensed contractor to perform foundation repairs. If the load-bearing parts of the walls begin to sag or sag, this is a serious foundation repair and should be done by a professional contractor.

Water

This can also be a symptom or cause of base damage. If you have water in your basement, you should look for cracks in the walls. If you see any cracks, you will need to repair them. This is especially true in colder climates and the reason is that between thawing and freezing, you can cause more damage to the foundation. You can repair small cracks with a kit that includes sealants.

For larger cracks, there is a kit you can get, but it is recommended that you contact a contractor who specializes in basement wall foundation repair. A large crack could indicate that there is possible structural damage to the supporting members of the foundation. If you decide to go with the kit, it will contain hydraulic cement that when placed in the cracks will expand and put pressure on each side of the crack, not allowing more water to flow through.

Filtration

This can happen because the waterproof coating was not applied properly to the exterior basement walls or the coating has worn away and needs to be reapplied. To do a foundation repair for this type of problem, you need to re-level the ground to make sure the water is flowing away from the foundation. Reapply sealer to the walls or, in less severe cases, just use waterproof paint on the interior walls.