Hi All -
Hope someone here can point me in the right direction. Inspection today had these (see pictures) in the basement directly underneath the chimney chase. There were no signs of a current crack, but I assume these are an epoxy crack filler? Can anyone confirm? If so, any resources you can point me to in order to understand better the process that these are used/when used would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
It looks like some sort of poorly executed epoxy injection to me. @manderson7 is a big proponent of these types of fixes and should be able to fill you in on the pros and cons, lol.
Yes, epoxy fillers. If performing (no moisture intrusion) there is no defect to report in my opinion. Half the time they work, the other half they do not. I am not a fortune teller so I report what I see.
Oh, to finish answering your question, they seal small cracks that allow water intrusion.
Looks to be one of those polyurethane injection kits for concrete crack repairs. Similar to this.
Looks like some type of foam injection, not epoxy. Also appears to be a DIY project.
Not epoxy.
Foam.
Really.
Looks like an incomplete application of a water cured liquid foam product. These work great if done well. The installer installs a series of plastic tubes up the crack, uses TEMPORARY epoxy to seal the crack, then injects foam.
But you’re supposed to REMOVE the portals afterward.
The product may have been installed for water control, or perhaps for control of radon gas levels. The gas application is much fussier, as a crack that’s not a big deal for water may still dump a lot of radon into the basement.
Probably the “Easy-Peel DIY Crack Repair Kit”
Again the epoxy is just temporary. The foam is what’s doing the work.
It’s a urethane injection. Urethane is a hydrophilic material that mixes with, foams, and expands when in contact with water. Generally, it’s the preferred injection for leaking cracks with no structural problems. Epoxy (at least in the region I service) is reserved for structual problems where you are trying to prevent movement which is a very small percentage of the foundation crack problems (most crack problems are related to leaking foundations). I’ve done hundreds of these (three in my own basement for my 2006 home—no leaking since). Usually, the contractor does not return to remove the ports, since it’s not necessary and only adds to the homeowner’s expense; although they can be removed and it’s generally messy to do so. Home this helps!
Thank you for that clarification. Helpful. I mistakenly lumped them together.
Thank you all. I appreciate you all sharing your knowledge. This is extremely helpful to know!
All correct. And a related distinction are dynamic cracks and static cracks. The epoxy has a chance on a static crack, but is highly suspect on a crack that expands and contracts due to outside forces such as expansive soils.
I call out bad surface caulk repair on dynamic cracks all the time. And I usually don’t have to say “it is vulnerable to failure” since it fails so fast and I can simply call out the caulk as failed.
