Crack injection is a method that foundation repair contractors will use to address cracks along the foundation wall. How well it works depends on a few factors, including the size and direction or the cracks. Here are a few things you should know about fixing wall cracks around your Kansas City home.
What is an Epoxy Crack Injection?
Epoxy injections are among the most common ways to repair wall cracks. This works when the crack is wide enough to accept the injection material. Not everyone knows that, which may lead them to misapply this method, but here we’re actually trying to repair the crack first, then follow it with an injection.
What are you trying to accomplish with this technique?
You’re trying to address an outside issue without digging underneath the home, through an affordable intervention inside the home. It’s all about penetrating the crack to fix an outside problem without breaking walls or excavating anything.
Now, we’ll explain the basics of it, but we also have a nice video that goes over the entire procedure, step-by-step. Check out this example of epoxy injection on a home in Ottawa, Kansas, to watch how an experienced professional handles it.
How Do You Apply Epoxy Crack Injection?
First, you smear the crack. Next, you would seal it.Then, position ports about every 12 to 15 inches, used for injecting the epoxy substance.
Once this dries, we go into the ports and inject the cracks themselves. The material tries to escape toward the inside, but the initial smear prevents that, thus forcing the epoxy into the crack to adhere itself to the outside. Finally, we allow it to dry for about 24 hours.
After that, many homeowners elect to have the ports removed (or paint over them). By this point, you have the cracks sealed, cleaned, and injected. All of this comes with a warranty guarantee for the service. It’s a rather simple process, which takes a little while, but not as long as an extensive excavation.
Sometimes homeowners make mistakes when they do this themselves, which forces us to undo the errors since not all cracks are amenable to epoxy injection. Then again, with the right materials you can fix most cracks, and keep them dry for several years.
Are There Times Where This Doesn’t Work?
You can inject almost all cracks, especially in poured foundation walls. We would avoid, however, injecting any of the cracks you find in corners because you can’t always tell the direction the crack will travel. If you have a block and mortar wall (very common around KC), those can also handle injection.
You can’t really pursue an injection approach for cracks in stone walls, but we have other cost-effective solutions for that material. KC Pier is one of the few companies who offer multiple solutions for handling stone cracks. In fact, that’s how we try to give as many options as possible for all the common foundation problems you may experience as a homeowner.
You can do this sometimes with crawl spaces and there are a few applications for injecting concrete slabs. If you aren’t sure what you can do, then take a few pictures and send them to us for advice. We’re more than happy to offer tips and suggestions.
Contact KC Pier for Reliable Foundation Repairs Anytime
Besides epoxy injections, there are a variety of other ways KC Pier can repair foundation issues around your home.
- Helical Pier Installation
- Basement Waterproofing
- Bowed Wall Repair
- Drainage Solutions
- House Leveling
- . . . and more!
There’s no problem, however big or small, that we can’t resolve for you. Again, our goal is to find an efficient and cost-effective solution that will address the foundation problem, and allow you to regain your peace of mind.
Contact KC Pier today to explore crack injection and other repair techniques for your property’s foundation.
