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Photograph of the author pointing to leak points in a concrete foundation wall. How to Inspect, Diagnose, & Repair Concrete Foundation Cracks
Cold Pour Joints, Movement, Settlement, Leaks, Exposed Cable Ends, Form Ties

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Concrete foundation crack types:

Cold pour joints, shrinkage cracks, holes, structural cracks & exposed ends of post tension cables in concrete walls: detection, diagnosis, repairs.

Page top photo shows the author inspecting a foundation in a New York home in 1985.

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Examples of structural & other failures in Poured Concrete Foundations: Cold Pour Joints, Cracks, Leaks, Movement, & Other Defects

Photograph of contraditory diagonal "cracks" in a poured concrete foundation wall (C) InspectAPedia & C.C. This article explains how to identify and diagnose poured concrete foundation walls, movement, settlement, leaks, & other defects involving reinforced or un-reinforced concrete foundations and concrete walls, such as damage due to shrinkage, impact, settlement, frost or water damage, and other causes.

Here you will find Types of Poured Concrete Foundation Defects listed, described & explained, How to identify and evaluate cold pour joints, shrinkage cracks, holes, settlement cracks in foundations;

How to identify and diagnose Poured Concrete Foundation Wall & Slab Cracks, Movement, Settlement, Foundation Leaks, & Leans, Bulges, & Other Foundation Defects.

Photographs of cold pour joints in foundations and related leaks or damage patterns and types & Visual clues of cold pour joints give a history of construction sequence, timing, even concrete delivery location points.

Concrete cold pour joints in a hand-mixed hand-poured concrete wall.

How to Identify Cold Pour Joints in Concrete Foundation Walls

Cold Pour Joints in concrete foundations which leave visible lines in the concrete foundation wall (photo above) are not usually a structural problem but may in some cases form a dry joint which permits water leakage through the foundation wall.

Cold pour joints occur because of the time delay between subsequent "pours" into the foundation forms.

An astute inspector, by noting the position, pattern, and slope of the cold pour joint, can probably determine the position from which the concrete was poured into the forms (the high end of the sloping lines) and the extent of delay between pours (evidence of water leaks through the joints indicates that enough time passed for the lower pour to solidify).

Water leaks into buildings at cold pour foundation joints are discussed

at BASEMENT FOUNDATION LEAK POINTS - Leaks at Cold Pour Joints.

And nearly all cold pour joints will appear as diagonals such as those shown in three of the four photos below.

Details about cold pour joints in concrete are found

at CONCRETE COLD POUR JOINTS.

Photograph of contraditory diagonal "cracks" in a poured concrete foundation wall (C) InspectAPedia & C.C.

How to Identify Concrete Shrinkage Cracks in Concrete Foundation Walls

Photograph of shrinkage cracks in poured concrete © Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Concrete shrinkage cracks are not usually a structural problem but may permit water leaks through the foundation wall.

Shrinkage cracks are often mistaken by owners and inspectors who, failing to observe the characteristic discontinuous path of the crack and its meandering path, mistake shrinkage cracks for structural damage.

We discuss shrinkage cracks in great detail and provide diagnostic photographs of shrinkage and other types of concrete cracking in poured concrete floors and slabs at

SHRINKAGE CRACKS in SLABS.

We provide further diagnostic guidance for concrete cracking

at SHRINKAGE vs EXPANSION vs SETTLEMENT.

The repair of shrinkage cracks (if repair is even needed) is discussed

at FOUNDATION REPAIR METHODS for shrinkage cracks .

How to Identify Recognize and Repair Holes and Penetrations in Concrete Foundation Walls

Photograph of holes in poured concrete © Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Holes and penetrations in concrete foundations such as poorly-sealed openings left for piping for water or electrical lines or where form ties were broken off may form points of water entry into the structure but are not normally a structural concern.

The "patched" holes shown in this photograph had been a source of chronic leakage and basement water entry since this home had been constructed about two years before this photograph was taken.

While several unsuccessful attempts had been made to seal and patch this leak point in the concrete foundation wall, none of the repairs had tried using a suitable product sold for that purpose and the wall was still leaking.

Of course the root problem was that surface water was not being directed away from the building outside.

These holes were high enough on the foundation wall that it would be reasonable (and perhaps preferable) to seal the wall from outside before also re-grading to drain surface water away from the building.

Identify Exposed Post Tension Cable Ends in Concrete Foundation Walls

Reader Question: What do we do about exposed ends of post-tension cables in the foundation of our new home?

I notice that most houses in my area have post tension cables protruding from the foundations and I'd like to know how to fix these correctly.

Seal exposed post tension cable ends in foundation wall (C) InspectApedia.com Solis

(Please see photo.) - Anonymous by private email 2023/04/26

I notice that most houses in my area have post tension cables protruding from the foundations and I'd like to know how to fix these correctly.

Moderator reply: Advice for sealing the exposed ends of foundation post tension cables

Your foundation photo shows what looks like the sliced-off end of a bundled 7-strand cable. You'll want to seal any such exposed cable ends to prevent future rusting. Rusting of post-tension foundation cables can cause exfoliating rust that has enough force to actually damage a foundation wall.

Conventional advice offered is typically to simply seal the exposed post tension cable ends with concrete patch compound.

For a more-durable reliable repair you might want to clean off surface rust and use a foundation repair bonding agent before applying the patch - that will help assure that the "patch" remains on the surface and protects the cable ends against further rust.

These two articles discuss concrete bonding agents and patching/sealing (focused on cracks but working equally well for an exposed post-tension cable end in a concrete foundation wall.)

STUCCO & CONCRETE BONDING AGENTS and

SEAL CRACKS in CONCRETE, HOW TO

Separate from the exposed end of a post tension foundation are similar-looking form ties that you might want to ask your inspector to watch-for as well.

Leaks at form ties, a separate issue that is sometimes confused with exposed post tension cable ends in concrete, are illustrated and discussed in our article

CONCRETE FOUNDATION, WALL, SLAB DEFECTS

and in case it helps you, lots of additional photos of form tie marks on concrete foundation walls are in our article

CONCRETE COLD POUR JOINTS

 

How to Identify Settlement Cracks in Concrete Foundation Walls

Photograph of settlement cracks in a concrete foundation wall © Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Concrete foundation settlement cracking

such as from footing settlement, absence of or poorly prepared footings, water leading to settlement or actual loss of soils, thus undermining the footings (this can occur and can damage most foundation types), or movement of the foundation due to nearby blasting or excavation work.

Shrinkage cracks in concrete occur only during curing and will appear mostly in the first 28 days after a wall or floor is poured. If cracks noted and documented after this time continue to increase in length or width, some other cause is at work and further investigation is needed.

The concrete settlement crack shown here appeared initially in this wall as a hairline fracture of less than 1/16" in width.

The homeowner monitored the crack and watched it increase in width to nearly 1/2" over the following 12 months, leading to the correct inference that there was structural movement going on.

In this case we traced the movement to uneven footing settlement which was aggravated by the combination of having placed the footing partly on bedrock, water from roof and surface spillage and runoff causing soil settlement (the contractor had not compacted the backfill under the footings), and by ongoing foundation blasting at a neighboring lot.

...

How to Identify Form Tie Marks and Leak Points in Concrete Foundation Walls

Photograph of water entry leaks at concrete form ties

Concrete Foundation Form Tie leaks: Leaks at the location of concrete form ties used during construction of a poured concrete foundation are not normally a structural problem but they can be blamed for basement water entry.

Form tie leaks occur in a poured concrete foundation wall where the form ties used to construct the foundation have left penetrations in the concrete walls.

Form ties are wire or steel connections between the two vertical sides of the wood or steel concrete form.

Concrete form ties are needed to prevent the forms from separating and bulging from the weight of the concrete poured into the form.

Iron suffide pyrrhotite cracks in a Connecticut Founation  (C) CCAB & Inspectapedia.comThe best solution to concrete wall form tie leaks is to keep water away from the foundation from outside.

Other Types of Foundation Damage to Concrete Foundations, Slabs, Walls or Floors

Research on Concrete

History of Portland Cement & Classification of Mortars

(Clarke 1899 pp. 8-14) [With minor editing by InspectApedia.com - Ed.]

The base of all hydraulic mortars is lime or the oxide of the metal calcium.

Various materials have been used as a bond for masonry construction, as mud, asphaltum, and lime. The last is the basis of hydraulic cement, which crystallizes or hardens by the application of mortar. ...

The use of lime as a mortar may be traced back for many hundred years. Volcanic slags, such as Pozzuolana or Tras, have long been employed in Italy and along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Improved cements are a comparatively modern discovery.

In 1756, John Smeaton found the need of having a hydraulic cement in building the famous Eddystone lighthouse. He discovered that liimestone was rendered hydraulic by the admixture of a certain proportion of clay. Vicat, the eminent French engineer, made a similar discovery in 1818.

Parker's "Roman" cement was discovered in 1796 on the Island of Sheppey off the coast of England.

J.C. Aspdin, a brickmaker of Leeds, England, took out a patent in 1824 for what he called Portland Cement, owing to its resemblance to the Oolithic limestone quarried on the "Isle of Portland". Westminster Abbey is built of this Portland Stone.

In tis country, Natural Rock Cement was discovered during the building of the Erie Canal in 1829.

A somewhat similar cement was discovered in 1823 near the town of Rosendale, in Ulster County, New York, during the building of the Delaware and Hudson Canal.

...

It was not until about 1848 that Portland cement began to be well known in the London Market. At this time Mr. I.C. Johnson discovered the proper mixture of lime and clay to make Portlan Cement, and also the secret of burning the clinker to the point of vitrification to secure the best results.


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Continue reading at CONCRETE SLAB CRACK EVALUATION which discusses in detail the process of evaluating cracks, settlement, leaks, shrinkage, or other damage in poured concrete slabs, monolithic slab foundations, and concrete floors, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Also see these

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Suggested citation for this web page

CONCRETE FOUNDATION, WALL, SLAB DEFECTS at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


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INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to BUILDING STRUCTURES

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