# Basement walls bowing in, help with fix....



## Little (Jul 22, 2006)

I am currently in the inspection phase of my first home purchase and i have some questions with what we found. The basement has a small amounts of water seepage through the walls and one long wall, i believe it was the front is bowing in, not an extreme amount but enough to create a 3/8" gap around the middle of the wall btw blocks. This is more than likely due to hydrostatic pressure from the outside as the lot slopes towards the front of the house. I only ask because i know some of you guys dig basements and such for homes and was wondering if you had any ideas on a fix. I wondering if i excavate down to the footing, will the release of pressure allow the block to straighten up or will i have to somehow jack it in place. Of course if i'm down there i would want to do a footer drain as well and membrane the outside wall.


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## genecarp (Mar 16, 2008)

Straightening the bowed block wall is not a good option. Your goal is to arrest any further distortion, and prevent moisture penetration. There are many ways to do this, specifics conditions dictate the best approach. G


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## Chris Johnson (Apr 19, 2007)

Try and push it out and it gets worse. Cut the floor perpendicular to the wall around the 1/2 way point, pour a footing, build a sheer wall on top of it, tied to the existing wall...all under an engineers direction


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

I have on occasion seen walls return to vertical under the right conditions.

Obviously you want to take extra care while excavating to be sure not to damage the foundation further. But once excavated we have lifted the house slightly taking the weight off the foundation and had the wall return to proper alignment.

Once the wall is straight you can grind out the cracks, patch and coat walls with foundation coating. Add drain board, drain tile, stone, backfill.

Send yourself an invoice and your done. 

Of course this may not work, and at that point, since you have the weight off the wall, I would tear it down and rebuild it with vertical steel and filled cells.


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## Little (Jul 22, 2006)

I have seen some articles showing to cut slits in the block, install re-bar, and pour from top block with a wet mix of concrete.


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## Little (Jul 22, 2006)

Any pointers on making a basement 100% sealed up from a water seepage or dampness? Would you use a membrane? What about the footer drain, would you put it on side of footing and one on top of footing?


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## Chris Johnson (Apr 19, 2007)

There is no 100% waterproofing available, the best you can do is a waterbarrier, I personally like peel and stick, some guys like spray-on, my preference is based on peel and stick you only need a utility knife as a tool, profit, some common sense for ease of use and did I mention profit. Followed by a drain mat suchas Delta MS or similar, weeping tile below the basement slab (this could be on top of the footing or beside it) followed by a couple of feet of 3/4" drain rock over the tile. When possible use gravel up to within 6" of the finished grade...this also depends on your local soils.

Finish it all off with a proper grade sloping away from the house, any downspouts should be piped away from the foundation wall as well.


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## wellbuilthome (Feb 5, 2008)

I have fixed many block walls . As said before If you dig out the basement and pump the house up off the foundation the blocks can fall back into place . Then we cut holes and fill it solid with concrete. If it looks real bad we rip it out and re block it . Fixing the grade and adding proper drainage is most important. I have found that most of the time the damage was made buy some bone head driving to close to the foundation wall with a doz er or concrete truck and it was cracked from day one . John


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

tgeb said:


> I have on occasion seen walls return to vertical under the right conditions.
> 
> Obviously you want to take extra care while excavating to be sure not to damage the foundation further. But once excavated we have lifted the house slightly taking the weight off the foundation and had the wall return to proper alignment.
> 
> ...


I agree with you 100%. That is the right way and only way to do it. Dealing with hidrostatic pressure is dealing with nature, the only way to do it, is releave the pressure from the wall. The wall has bowed and already cracked, block must be reset and steel bars should be installed from the footing up, then proper drainage installed and backfilled with good clean fill that drains well. Everything else will be a waste of money.

Good luck


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