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My mom's house has major cracking on the grout lines in her basement and the wall is bowing. What is going on?

The cracks are not hairline they are rather wide. The front wall is the worst. I am worried that her house is going to fall in. There are also stress cracks showing up in the walls and ceiling above this basement wall. I have seem this is another house that is concrete block. Bad concrete? We are in Minnesota and her house is about 75 years old.

Asked By: Tamara - 5/9/2011
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
The only difference between concrete block and concrete is the amount of concrete they use.
A house 75 years old does not have bad concrete. But chances are the little trees that were in the yard 75 years ago are now big monsters.

Note where the major cracks and centre of the bow is on the inside. Now go outside the house to the same areas. Are there cedar shrubs near the house or large trees nearby (15ft is nearby). Now dig down along the concrete wall, right to the footing (which is usually a concrete pad wider than the concrete wall) along the whole wall all the way around the structure. There should not be "any tree or shrub roots" (as big as your wrist) against the concrete.

If there is roots, cut them out. I cut them off right at the tree and dig them(so that root dies) Nothing should rest against the concrete wall but dirt or gravel. That is why flowers gardens are planted around the house(because they have no root)

A tree root or cedar shrub root will push through concrete in time. While the concrete wall is free of dirt, wash it down with a water hose and paint on another coating of cold tar to seal up any cracks in the concrete block (from the outside only) so that water does not enter into the crack and freeze during the winter to make the crack bigger. After a few years water will be entering. Putting on the cold tar is something that prevents that from happening for another 100 years. Give it a couple of days to dry...and put the dirt back against the wall.

Now you know the wall won't move because of tree roots. It would need an earthquake and your house being directly on the fault line before that happened.

It is the only fix to take stress off the block wall.

The bow in the wall will remain. But it won't get any worse now (after the root check and removal) Cutting one root will not kill a tree.You will have to build a wooden wall in front of the bow to straighten the wall out in appearance.

Big job which will take some time to do. Fortunately you will dig faster than the tree can grow.

Best guess without a picture.
Answered By: get facts, not opinions - 5/9/2011
Additional Answers ()
Consult a contractor immediatly. They will be able to determine the problem and engineer the correct solution. The house may need to be jacked up and have the foundation re-blocked in those areas. Water may be the cause of the problem. A contractor and an engineer is what you need.
Answered By: Steve - 5/9/2011
Not knowing specifically I would say that the walls were not properly supported or poured without proper support (pier blocks every so many feet to support the wall after completion so that the weight of the dirt on the outside that is pushed back against the wall after completion wont push the wall in) and the dirt on the outside is now pushing the walls from the outside . If you look at a wall that is constructed correctly you will see piers on the inside of the wall that keep it from buckling into the house from the outside. You also have layers of brick that were filled with concrete and re bar that help also. Check with your building dept to find out what you have to do.
Answered By: bzzz500 - 5/9/2011
It's most likely due to wet soils that are putting pressure on the wall and causing it to bow and crack. A consultation from a professional engineer is definitely worth the cost on this. That way you'll know what to tell the contractors that give you bids for the work.

You'll also need to solve the wet soils problem, at the same time or sooner if possible. That can mean adding soil near the house and creating swails or other paths for water to flow away from the house so the ground against the foundation doesn't get so saturated. If that is not possible, then tiling or other methods to move the water away from the house could be considered. Ask the engineer about this as well.

Good luck
Answered By: John M - 5/9/2011
My mother's house had the same problem (also in Minnesota). It's caused by frost heaving that's pushing in the foundation. Concrete block basement walls in clay soils are more susceptible to this.

To repair it, we had to dig out a couple of feet around the foundation and improve the drainage, push the walls (from the inside) until they were straight using planks and jacks, anchor the outside wall to the surrounding soil with earth anchors, and then fill it back in.

This was ~15 years ago. Now I've heard they have anchors that can be installed without so much digging and which can be tightened over time to slowly straighten the wall.
Answered By: Jeff D - 5/9/2011
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