# Vertical crack in crawl space wall



## LukeO (Jun 20, 2017)

We recently purchased a home and after a big storm rolled through last week we noticed some water pooling on the floor of crawl space. Upon further inspection I discovered a vertical crack about 3/8th" wide and 3 ft long in poured concrete wall of crawl space. The house is 17 years old and has never had gutters. We're getting those installed ASAP. I've heard vertical can result from water runoff problems.

I'm curious about any feedback on best ways to fix the crack and estimates of costs. I have a couple contractors coming out for estimates as well.

I have uploaded a few pictures of the crack.

Thanks for any feedback!


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## nealtw (Jun 20, 2017)

We can see the metal tie that was used to hold the two side of the forms together. 
When these spots are not waterproofed properly they leak, and if there is water in there when you have freezing temps. The ice can crack the concrete. 
Having the downspouts is a great plus. But I would still dig down to below this crack and seal it from the outside.


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## LukeO (Jul 17, 2017)

nealtw, thanks for your reply. We had a contractor dig down exterior to the footing, use a Quikrete 2 part polyurethane in crack, then covered that with hydraulic cement, and finally waterproofed with black polymer asphalt emulsion roll painted over area. He also applied hydraulic cement to interior of crack. We should have gutters installed in next 2 weeks. We hope this is a permanent solution to our issue. Any thoughts?


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## stadry (Nov 25, 2017)

*other'n the hydraulic, method shows common sense which's good but mtls aren't,,, we use hlm5000 (2 coats trowel-applied protected by layer of hdpe waffleboard [for backfill]),,, emulsions aren't elastomeric - 5000 is,,, don't know who's making quikrete's poly but should be good*


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