Repairing Your Concrete Foundation

Unfortunately, it isn’t uncommon for a home to get a crack in the foundation. Small cracks are usually left untreated because they don’t cause harm to the overall structure of the home; however, there are times when these small cracks develop and become precursors to major cracks which do damage your home’s integrity.

Below, you can find several steps that will aid you in repairing the cracks in your concrete foundation.

1. Clean the area

This seems to be a given; after all, you can’t fix a broken vase without removing the spare bits. The same goes for your concrete foundation: you should use a chisel and sledgehammer to get rid of small chips if the crack is more than an eighth of an inch wide.

2. Mix the concrete

You want your concrete to have the same consistency as as thin paste. This can be hard because oftentimes, people mix it with water. The trick is, however, to blend your concrete with latex because this gives the mixture more elasticity. Be sure to mix a small amount of concrete at a time, though, because it can dry quickly.

3. Get some water

You then need to wet the crack of your foundation with some water because otherwise, your patch material will crack. This is caused by the patch concrete being placed on your foundation’s dry concrete and; thereby, preventing moisture from being drawn out.

4. Use a trowel

Sometimes, your patch work will be incredibly rough because it may not have been sanded. When this happens, you should just remove the extra paste with a trowel in order to create a smooth finish. You can end this step by sweeping your patchwork.

5. Clean!

Cleaning your tools is one of the most important parts of this process. You don’t want any leftover paste to be stuck to your tools, after all. The patching substance will create a bonding substance and will be incredibly difficult to remove from your buckets and trowel.

Repairing larger gaps isn’t all that much difficult, despite the cracks being wider and longer. Here, you can use a cauking gun because the resulting products are easily malleable. You do need, however, to spray the patchwork twice a day so that it can set properly.

Overall, repairing a crack in your concrete foundation isn’t incredibly difficult and shouldn’t require the help of a professional; however, there are steps which you should follow in order to do it properly. With the above information, you’re able to fix your own problems all by yourself! Now, get fixing!