A crack in a brick wall: "diagnostics" of the problem and solutions. Horizontal cracks in the wall cause. We eliminate cracks in the wall - urgent repairs with our own hands The house is bursting

Sooner or later, almost every property owner is faced with such an unpleasant thing as crack detection. And the reasons for this can be very diverse. The article will focus on repairing cracks in the walls of a house.

Preventing the appearance of cracks in the walls of a new home

The appearance of cracks on the surface of the walls does not bode well. In the best case, you will have to re-do the finishing work, but you don't even want to think about the worst options. However, it is difficult for a common man to assess the level of threat, so it is worth resorting to the services of specialized organizations that will carry out design and survey work. The result will be an act, which will indicate the reasons for the appearance of these defects, the dynamics of development, the conclusion on the hazard class, as well as recommendations (design solution) for their elimination.

Most residents, seeing the cracks, begin to sound the alarm, contact housing companies and other similar services. Upon arrival of specialists, it turns out that cracks were formed due to temperature changes, poor-quality finishing materials or their natural wear and tear. However, in such situations, finding out the origin of various depressions and sizes of crevices will not be superfluous.

General information

It should be remembered that any building structures must meet the relevant standards, a number of important requirements. When a structure ceases to resist operational loads, it begins to collapse. This state is called limiting. The resulting damage does not allow further operation of the building.
Therefore, if any element of the structure (foundation, floors, walls) ceases to meet certain norms and rules, then it means that it has reached the limit state. As a result, signs of deterioration begin to appear, namely cracks of various shapes and sizes. And the larger they are, the wider the depth of disclosure, the more dangerous they are.

But the appearance of small cracks, the so-called cobweb in new buildings does not pose any danger. After all, the reason for this is the natural subsidence of the building. After 3-6 months, new microcracks stop appearing, and old ones stop expanding.
The progression of cracks should alert, this indicates the beginning of the destruction of the structure. Here, measures should be taken to eliminate the cause of destruction.

Cracks in the walls of wooden houses

As for wooden structures, cracks often occur under the influence of moisture retained in the inner layers of a bar or log. Their formation can be minimized by compensating cut, which is performed along the entire length of the lumber with a depth of no more than 1/5 of the diameter of the log.

In cases where large crevices have formed in an exploited building, you should not panic. Such defects are harmless and in no way affect the custom properties of the walls. To be convinced of this, it is enough to look at the log cabins dotted with cracks in remote villages that have stood there for several decades.
Therefore, repairing cracks in wooden houses is carried out only for aesthetics. The materials used are different, but, unfortunately, none of them differ in their long service life:
- the sealant cannot provide long-term adhesion to wood. Such a seal will last no more than 2-3 seasons. But after peeling, a new layer can be applied over the old one, only it will last again for a couple of years;

foamed polyethylene harnesses are intended for indoor use, so their use is impractical;
any solid formulations are also not suitable for this kind of structure. The tree constantly absorbs and gives back moisture, changing its size depending on the season. That is why there is a detachment of any sealing material $
the best way to seal cracks in wooden surfaces is by caulking with moss or linen-hemp pigtails.

Why do cracks form in the walls of a brick house

The appearance of this kind of defect on walls made of bricks, foam blocks or aerated concrete can be influenced by various reasons, the most common are:

violation of the masonry process (thickened horizontal seams, lack of dressing and reinforcement);
low-quality material and / or illiterately mixed solution (violation of proportions when mixing, that is, by eye);
the use of building materials for other purposes (for example, a silicate product cannot be used in rooms with high humidity);
combination of materials of different characteristics (the combination of clay bricks with cinder blocks is unacceptable);
uneven shrinkage of the foundation.

Cracking in reinforced concrete structures occurs due to the following factors:

non-compliance with the technology of pouring concrete (low vibration, fast drying, an error in the recipe when mixing concrete mortar);
mechanical deformation, external load (absence of expansion joints and omission or reduction in the number of reinforcement);
uneven foundation settlement.

Cracks in the wall what to do

Cracks can be patched in different ways, their opening will determine the choice of material.

If the depth of the crack is small, then it is plastered with sand-cement mortar, with the addition of PVA glue or cement putty for external use. Of course, the previously damaged area and the adjacent part of the wall must be cleaned of crumbling fragments, dust removed, treated with a primer, and a reinforcing tape must be applied.

A medium-sized crack is closed using a metal mesh. Here, all cracked coating is removed and primed without fail. Next, holes are drilled for dowels in increments of 25-30 cm. The mesh with 5x5 cm cells is attached to the surface using screws with wide washers. If the emergency section is large and it is required to lay another strip of reinforcing material, then this is done with an overlap (at least 10 cm). The cement-based plaster is pressed into the mesh so that it adheres to the wall. After light leveling, it is necessary to wait until completely dry, and only then apply the next finishing coat.
You can also use polyurethane foam - the gap is foamed, after drying, the residues are cut off, and then finishing materials are applied (plaster, paint, and so on).

Cardinal methods of eliminating cracks in the wall of the house

Determining whether a crack is progressing is quite simple. For this, paper strips are taken, which are glued across the crack in several places (top, bottom and middle). Further, everything is simple, if the paper is torn, then it is accordingly necessary to identify and eliminate the causes of this defect.

Tip: a gypsum plate can also act as a beacon. You can take plastic (glass) elements tightly fitted to each other, which are attached on opposite sides of the crack. Once every 7-10 days, the beacons are inspected, data is recorded, which is compared with the original records. Their displacement or deformation signals the development (expansion) of the gap.

Setting the anchor

It is possible to stop the "spreading" of large cracks with a large opening with the help of an anchor (channel). First, the plaster is knocked down to the length of the metal plate, if this parameter is 1 meter, then the area is cleaned 50 cm on each side of the slot. The depth of the groove must correspond to the thickness of the metal.
Depending on the thickness of the wall, the material from which it is made, as well as its condition, the fastening is carried out using dowels, anchor bolts or long bolts with a nut. In the latter case, the wall is drilled through.

The crack and grooves are cleaned and filled with polyurethane foam. The anchor is inserted into the recess and fixed with hardware. It is better to install the tightening system in 3 places, stepping back a little from the beginning and end of the slot, and in the middle. Then the reinforcing material is mounted and the plastering of the emergency area is performed.
Staples will work instead of plates. They can be prepared independently, for this, the reinforcement of the required length is taken, it is necessary to take into account the bending of both ends of the metal by about 15-20 cm.
Furrows are prepared across the crack in several places, so that the metal bracket sits a little deeper in relation to the surface. For example, if the cross-section of the reinforcement is 10 mm, then the groove depth should be 13-15 mm.
Holes for the ends of the workpiece are drilled with the appropriate diameter and equal to its length. It is impossible to hammer the bracket into the wall, as this can provoke the divergence of the crack or the destruction of the area adjacent to it.
Next, standard manipulations are performed: cleaning, priming, reinforcement, plastering.

Crack diagnosis by specialists

If the manipulations carried out did not lead to a positive result (cracks expand or appear in other areas), then the time has come to correct the mistakes made during the construction of the structure.
To do this, you should contact a specialized company that will conduct research and offer the best solution to this difficult issue. Specialists will prepare a project for the restoration of structural elements of the building.

The result will depend on the detected violations committed during the construction process:

dismantling the emergency wall and re-laying brick, block rows;
implementation of a monolithic structure - a reinforcing belt;
strengthening of supports or their complete replacement;
restoration of the blind area;
lengthening the load-bearing wall and strengthening the walls.

How to repair a crack in a wall inside a house

There are many factors influencing the appearance of different "caliber" cracks and cracks on the walls and ceilings of the room:

natural shrinkage of the house, violation of construction technology;
poor quality materials or their incompatibility, improper application;
unfavorable operating conditions (high humidity, temperature drops).

Before proceeding with the elimination of cracks, it is necessary to identify and correct the reason for the cracking of the surface. Otherwise, all the efforts made, the funds spent will not justify themselves.

Drywall

Small cracks often appear on such material. The cobweb suggests that a thick layer of putty may have been produced. Another reason is the violation of the temperature regime, for example, many artificially inject heat (with guns, hair dryers or heaters) for faster drying of the surface. You definitely can't do this, the finishing material should dry, not harden.
Such defects in the horizontal or vertical direction often occur at the joints of the sheets. There are two sources of their education:
- weakened frame;
- lack of serpyanka at the seams.

Correction

You can get rid of the defect only by removing the damaged layer and applying a thinner one, not exceeding 2 mm. If there is a need for another surface coating, then first you need to wait until the applied material is completely dry, and only then proceed to applying the next layer.

If the problem lies in the metal structure under the drywall, then deeper cracks cannot be repaired. But with a reliable fixation of the base to the wall, repair work is carried out as follows:

- cracks are deepened with a sharp knife at an angle of 45 °, a kind of groove is made;
- the furrow is filled with a small amount of the mixture intended specifically for this purpose;
- Serpyanka tape is "glued" on top and the surface is leveled.

Plastered walls

Often the sources of such damage are improper application of the material or a violation of the proportion when mixing a dry mixture with water. Of course, there are more serious reasons due to which surface cracking occurs, but this was discussed above.

Correction

Fiberglass is an ideal material for masking a non-ideal surface. It will hide existing cracks, prevent new ones from forming and old ones to expand. Before work, it is enough to seal only very deep recesses with putty and treat the wall with a deep penetration primer.
Peeling plaster can be completely removed, after which the surface is primed and putty. Before work, carefully read the information on the packaging regarding the dilution proportions, as well as the recommended thickness of the material layer.

Conclusion

Almost all cracks that form in the walls of the house are due to a lack of proper supervision, low qualifications of workers and, consequently, poor quality work. Therefore, it is very important to follow all technical conditions, norms and rules when erecting buildings of any purpose. And:

take into account the properties of the soil;
calculate the margin of safety of supporting structures;
use high quality building materials.

Before you cover the crack in the wall of the house yourself, you need to make sure that it does not affect the strength of the entire structure and does not pose a threat. And in order to avoid such a problem, it is better to entrust construction to licensed contractors, who, on the basis of a contract, can make claims for poorly performed work.

A crack in the wall of a panel house, what to do? To positively resolve this issue, you just need to systematically and thoroughly consider it.

Determining the root causes, qualitative analysis is half the battle. And to deal with the actual decision on their own or responsible organizations.

Open cracks in a panel house

Cracks in the walls are of two types: open and closed. The names speak for themselves.

Closed cracks, located inside the walls, not visible without special equipment. And open ones can be seen with the naked eye.

Any of these types of cracks is most often developing and without a set of measures to eliminate it will only lead to deterioration.

It is also worth paying close attention to the location of the crack in the outer or inner wall, in the load-bearing or in the partition, possibly on the ceiling or on the floor.

For an independent analysis of the risk of developing a split, perhaps just put a plaster beacon. If the lighthouse has remained intact during the season, then there is no crack development and it can be repaired.

At the same time, growing cracks will show their variability and will constantly increase in volume. Stable cracks are most favorable when considering this problem.

In addition, there are technological gaps that appear when drying components used in decoration and construction.

To avoid this kind of crevices, various bonding materials are usually used, resembling mesh. These cracks will not lead to the destruction of the structure, but only change its aesthetics.

If you try to distribute the cracks in the walls into subgroups as much as possible, you get a picture:

For reasons: additive, deformation, temperature, structural, and also caused by wear or weathering of walls.
Destruction: cuts, crushing and tearing.
Direction: oblique, vertical and horizontal direction.
By shape: curved, straight and closed (not capturing the edges of the walls) contour.
In depth: external and through crevices.
According to the degree of risk: safe and dangerous.
By time: stable-permanent and unstable-permanent breaks.
By disclosure: large, small, hairy, developed.

What is the reason for the occurrence of cracks in the walls of a panel house?

In the case of compliance with the technology, the operating rules were not violated, then the reasons for the formation of cracks are possible as follows:

Amortization - material wear. End of service life. For example, concrete will last 80-150 years.
Erosion, weathering. Much faster the natural environment leads to weakening, is a catalyst.
The action of the soil itself and groundwater. Quite a common reason. In addition, the foundations of the foundation washed away by groundwater and cyclic freezing of the soil pose a danger.
Humidity and temperature fluctuations are the most negative factor. Freeze-thaw cycles expand the crack even with a fairly high wall resistance to this process.

If the technologies were not taken into account responsibly enough, there are violations of the operating rules, then the reasons may be hidden in the following:

Existence of extensions or add-ons. Certain compressive stresses are formed, as a result of which the foundation cushion settles in the soil. Moreover, adjoining cracks can contain oblique cracking of the "down" direction, and opening - "up". Also, this occurs when the superstructure passes along the entire length of the building.
Oscillating pressure on the foundation along the length of the structure. This is often influenced by large glazed areas along the length. This affects the uneven settlement of the foundation.
Construction of a pit near an already constructed structure. Displacements of the soil cause displacement of loads, respectively, inclined cracks appear, everything is simple.
Oppression of adjacent foundations. With this type of impact, the loads add up and increase the total point compression of the soil. If one of the buildings was built earlier, then the slope goes in its direction.
Impact of loads on the surface. This is storage on the ground near walls of various materials, industrial raw materials and any other products. It turns out the soil is compressed, the foundation settles, and cracks are created.
Dynamic influences. These are moving vehicles, and driving in piles, and the operation of compressors and boilers in various workshops, and any similar vibrations. Also, under the influence of such loads, the foundation settles.
Freezing and freezing of soils. Freezing raises foundations by heaving. This is especially dangerous during construction, when the walls have low bending stiffness. An extremely negative point, the walls on which the rest of the floors are being built are already being built with these deviations.
Shape changes during shrinkage. During shrinkage, the breaks often pass in the corners of the wall openings of buildings and acquire a radial orientation. Such crevices are simply not aesthetic. On plastered surfaces, small, closed, multidirectional or oriented cracks can form that do not reach the corners. Their reason is the drying of a solution with high fat content.
Overloading the walls. It threatens with the destruction of walls and is accompanied by cracking of the main structures. Cracks of this kind are the initial sign of wall collapse and are extremely dangerous.

In an amicable way, in order to understand the causes of the occurrence, documentation of the history of design, engineering geology, operation of the structure, the location of underground communications and a project of work with the author's supervision journal is required.

Danger of wall cracks, risk identification

Having decided on the causes of cracking, you can roughly determine the degree of danger of their presence in the wall.

For an objective assessment, you will have to examine the cracks from the neighbors' apartments and carefully see if there were any redevelopments there. With good relations, the neighbors will show you no problem, otherwise you will have to collect a commission.

Most of the cracks described are safe. In new buildings during the first 5 years, while the house is "settled", this is a fairly normal phenomenon, natural shrinkage.

The degree of danger of cracks in the wall

But rebuilding or major reconstruction is already dangerous. The degree of danger is usually identified as follows: climbers put plaster notes or strips of special paper.

And within 3-4 weeks, they control whether cracking appears on the plaster mark. When the crack appears, you need to observe for another 8-12 weeks. And if it really grows, you definitely need to contact an expert in the construction field.

Since in this case intervention, strengthening in the existing foundation of the building is possible.

Construction of additional reinforcing structures - trenches along the foundation with reinforcement and pouring. Moreover, the reinforcement must be connected with the existing foundation.

Holes are drilled in the foundation, pieces of reinforcement are driven in, and on the other hand they are welded with laid rods. Such types of work can only be performed by experienced specialists.

But we will not consider this extreme moment, but consider how to generally cope with the most dangerous cracks on our own.

How to repair cracks in the walls yourself?

If there is a problem - a crack is in, and there is no idea what to do, first you should decide on its type.

If the size of the crevice is insignificant, the easiest way is to eliminate it with polyurethane foam, with further plaster and putty. But do not fill large cracks with construction foam or other components, as this will further accelerate crushing.

Through cracks are the most dangerous and their rather sensitive spreading will lead to the fall of the floor slabs. This way out can only be a temporary solution for living in winter, during which it is irrational to do it.

In addition, professionals in many cases advise the use of gypsum mixtures, they are easy to find at this time. Execution technology renovation is pretty simple... How to cover up the cracks in the wall of the apartment? The crack "opens", is cleaned of dust, dirt, the surface is washed with water and dries up.

After reading the instructions, it is mixed with water, stirred until a homogeneous mass without clots is present and the crack is closed.

Apply the solution with a spatula. Do not forget that gypsum tends to expand, so you need to make sure that there is a sufficient amount of solution in the cracks.

If this moment is not taken into account, the gypsum will turn out to be more than necessary, the crack will worsen, and a new displacement of the wall will appear.

At the end of the elimination, you need to let the gypsum dry completely, this is about 5-6 hours. Then use sandpaper to clean the remaining plaster. And admire the renewed flat wall.

You can also make good old 3 to 1 mortar, parts sand to cement parts, by adding water. This solution will be most suitable for uniformity to the panel wall.

It is applied in the same way as plaster mortar, using a spatula. When dry, it has less effect on the wall, only here you need to understand a little about the properties of sand, it should not be greasy.

To stop the development of large cracks, you can install a channel (anchor) or metal plates. To do this, the wall is cleaned of plaster, about 50 cm in each direction from the edge of the crack, plates are installed.

They are fastened with dowels or long bolts, and for the second option, it is better to drill through the wall. First, everything should be prepared, cleaned and blown out with polyurethane foam. And then insert the anchors into the prepared place and secure with the indicated fasteners.

Now the information on what to do when a crack is found in the walls of a panel house is enough to resolve the issue.

Who should pay for cracks in the walls of a panel house?

Crack in the wall of an apartment building - where to go

To begin with, it is worth deciding on the situation, finding the real root cause. These are, possibly, the builders themselves, also developers, neighbors or third parties.

To do this, you need to contact the management company or partnership, which first draw up an act, install beacons and monitor their position.

And then follow the procedure described earlier. In the case of a difficult situation, with a rather large crack, when the Criminal Code and Homeowners' Association do not take any action, it is worth submitting a statement to the City Housing Inspectorate and wait for the commission to appear.

But it's worth remembering that since 2010, the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation has issued a resolution, the essence of which is that this issue is fully assigned to the management company.

And then she already deals with the search for the root cause and the culprits, if any. The commission, in which the engineer from the BTI must be, in the act must reflect everything that is said about the cracks in question, objectively. It is also desirable to have neighbors as witnesses.

Very often, homeowners encounter cracks on the walls, some creep like cobwebs on the putty, but there are also cracks tearing the building apart. Knowing the true reasons for their appearance, you can stop their growth, and then proceed with the repair and decoration of the house.

Construction errors leading to cracks in the house

The old private houses were built by the owners who used the help of family and friends. Sometimes they did not even have a specific plan, so the houses were built without calculations and were ill-considered upset by the addition of separate rooms. There was also a lack of information on how to make a foundation or reinforce concrete correctly.

Often, some believed that the more iron in the foundation, the better. Such a base was reinforced with anything, up to pieces of tin and any scrap metal. The second common option for building a foundation, leading to the appearance of cracks, is the complete absence of reinforcement. The base of the house was laid out of brick or wild stone, without taking into account the peculiarities of the soil on which it was built.

All this led to the fact that many houses began to sink over time, the foundations cracked, and the outbuildings moved away from each other, forming rather large and dangerous cracks. Some of them appear, but over time they stop growing and do not require strengthening the foundation. To determine the method of correcting the defect, you must first find out whether the crack threatens to collapse the wall or not, and then establish the cause of the crack.

How to determine the type of crack

Cracks are superficial, in which only the plaster layer cracks, and through, passing through the entire thickness of the wall. To find out the type of damage, it is necessary to establish whether the crack continues to grow or whether it is already established and does not change in size.

This is determined using glass beacons. A narrow long strip is cut out of thin glass, which is fixed with plaster at its ends on both sides of the crack. The center should remain clean and over the crack. It is better to knead the gypsum thicker to make it easier to glue the glass. Its walls are so smooth that the ends of the glass beacon are constantly slipping, so you need to hold it with your hands for a few seconds until the gypsum hardens completely.

Signs for determining the depth of cracks:

surface (removable by cosmetic repair) - after a month, the glass remains intact. Such a crack has already stopped and is not enlarging;
destroying the house (requiring major repairs) - the glass broke within a month. The discrepancy continues and it is necessary to look for the reasons for this process and urgently eliminate them.

The most common reason for the appearance of such cracks is the violation of the integrity of the foundation and soil subsidence. Destruction occurs with loose soil or a small foundation area that is not designed for the weight of the walls. Sometimes the base is eroded by groundwater. If you do not restore the strength and integrity of the foundation and do not exclude its further subsidence, it will be impossible to repair the cracked wall. No matter how many times it is plastered and no matter how strengthened, the crack will appear again.

We remove cracks in the house that can destroy it

You can strengthen the foundation in different ways, but the most reliable is to make it solid again with the help of proper reinforcement and increasing the area of \u200b\u200bsupport on the ground. To achieve this, you need to dig a trench about one and a half meters long and 40-50 cm wide close to the foundation. The depth should be about 40 cm below the foundation, but not less than to the freezing point.

Then we remove the soil from under the foundation, to the level of the bottom of the trench. This will enable the concrete to spill under the old base and increase its area almost twice, while reducing the load on the ground by the same amount.

We reinforce this space with reinforcement rods with a thickness of at least 14 mm, laying them horizontally along the foundation and sticking the ends in both sides of the trench by at least 20 cm.There should be six or more such rods. Two rods at the very bottom, two in the middle and two on top. Such an arrangement of the reinforcement in the foundation makes it work not for bending, but for breaking, which is ten times more effective.

We drill holes in the foundation in order to drive pieces of reinforcement into them and weld them with the rods laid earlier. Then we fill this trench with concrete, making sure that the solution fills well the void under the foundation. Ideally, it is recommended to use a vibrator for this, but if this is not possible, the concrete should be well vibrated by hand using a long rod.

Several such trenches must be made under the wall, the number is determined by the distance. The gap between the trenches should be about two meters. After the concrete has set (usually two weeks are enough for this), you can start digging the same trenches between the resulting new foundation blocks.

By digging out the next trenches, you will free the ends of the reinforcement rods (which were previously driven into the ground by 20 cm) and you will be able to connect separate blocks of the new foundation into an integral reinforcing belt using welding and two-meter pieces of rods.

After filling all the trenches with concrete, you will get a strong new foundation with an increased area of \u200b\u200bsupport on the ground and tightly connected to the old foundation. Now you can safely start repairing the crack itself, since the new reinforced foundation will no longer allow the wall to disperse.

To repair a crack, first of all, you need to clean its edges from such parts of the wall and plaster that can hardly stick. Then it must be filled with any solution, the choice of which depends on the width of the crack and the building material from which the wall is made.

If the size of the crack is small, the easiest way is to fill it with polyurethane foam, followed by plaster and putty. When the crack is large, the hole is filled with the same material from which the damaged wall is made, with further finishing.

The most difficult repair is a crack on the wall, which is lined with finishing bricks. Before laying, broken bricks are knocked out, and new ones are put in their place, adjusting the masonry according to the pattern.

Redecorating cracked walls

If the glass beacon showed that the crack was no longer parting, there was no need for such a complex repair. Just make a cosmetic one.

To do this, the crack must be processed, removing all the pieces that do not hold well, and filling it, as described above. When the hole is closed, the surface is plastered and putty. In this case, it is recommended to use a construction mesh for plastering.

The mesh must be glued to the crack so that its edges go over the sides of the crack by ten centimeters and only then plaster this place. The mesh will create additional reinforcement and prevent the appearance of new microcracks from material shrinkage.

Also, when renovating a house, one sometimes has to deal with microcracks that appear on normal and well-reinforced walls due to thermal expansion. This is usually due to the fact that no reinforcing mesh was used during the putty. It is best to completely re-putty such walls, reinforcing them with a mesh. This will guarantee that microcracks will not appear in the future. But if this is not possible at the moment, you can use elastic putty mixtures to repair such defects.

Do not try to fill large cracks with foam or other materials, as you will accelerate its expansion. Through cracks are the most dangerous and their strong divergence leads to the collapse of the floor slabs. This method can only be used temporarily to survive the cold season, during which major repairs are difficult to do.

If a crack appears on the wall in your apartment, then the main thing is not to panic. First you need to understand how dangerous it is, and then ask yourself the questions: "how to patch up the cracks in the wall of the apartment?" or "who will pay for the repair of cracks in the wall in the apartment?" You can determine the degree of danger by the size of the formed depression.

If it is less than one millimeter, then most likely there is nothing wrong. For new buildings, within five years, this is normal. The house just shrinks.

If, on the contrary, the building is too "old", then this may indicate that it is dilapidated, worn out, and it is time to assign it the status of emergency. In general, the reasons can be very diverse.

Crack in the wall in the apartment. What to do and who is to blame?

Any crack that appears on the wall in the apartment is an alarming symptomatology that indicates the stress state of the enclosing structures. Before asking the question: "how to repair cracks in the wall of an apartment?" you need to understand the reasons for their appearance.

The reasons for this may be different, but they are usually associated with the deformation of the foundation. Such damage reduces the structural reliability of the building, as well as its operational properties. In order to understand the cause, it is necessary to determine the type of crack, its direction, opening width, shape.

Crack direction:

Vertical crack in the apartment on the wall;
Inclined crack in the apartment on the wall;
Horizontal crack in the apartment on the wall.

By outline:

Curvilinear;
Closed;
Direct.

Depth:

Surface;
Through.

Reasons for the appearance:

Shrinkage of the building;
Deformation of the foundation;
Temperature;
Due to the deterioration of the building;
Weathered walls.

For example, with uneven soil compression, inclined cracks appear. There may be various reasons for this:

Superstructures or annexes can increase the load on the base, resulting in excess compressive stress and foundation settlement. In this case, inclined cracks may appear on the walls, opening upwards;
If you dig a pit too close to an existing building, then the building can be either near the slope, or on it. In this case, ground shifts and the appearance of inclined cracks in the wall from the side of the pit cannot be avoided.

Vertical cracks can occur if:

Freezing of soils, followed by thawing, can make the building "walk" and cause cracks, both inclined and vertical;
Overloading the walls due to the superstructure can lead to crushing of the masonry. The result is very dangerous vertical cracks that can destroy walls.

Horizontal cracks are serious:

The reasons can be very different, for example, such mistakes of the developer as too heavy a roof combined with an incorrect construction of the building can lead to this state of affairs.
Overloading of walls from one side.

A crack appeared on the wall in the apartment. What to do?

How dangerous this or that crack can be eloquently indicated not only by its location and direction, but also by its behavior. Before repairing a crack in the wall of an apartment, it is worth examining its nature. If it is rapidly increasing in width and depth, then this is a very dangerous sign. It is necessary to sound the alarm as soon as possible and contact specialists. If a crack appears in the wall in the apartment, when asked "what to do?" experts in the field of construction can give. It is best to contact them, as well as the housing inspection. You may have to draw up an act, which will clearly indicate who is to blame, as well as who is obliged to take on financial obligations to eliminate deficiencies. For example, the neighbors from above, violating all the redevelopment rules, removed the load-bearing wall, and your wall cracked in your apartment, where to go? It is clear that you do not have to pay for the repair of cracks in the wall in the apartment. By the way, with sufficiently distinct indentations, self-sealing of cracks in the wall of an apartment is highly undesirable. After all, this way you can disguise a serious problem, which can have extremely unfavorable long-term consequences.

Cracks in the wall of the apartment, where to go?

If there are serious cracks in the wall of the apartment, where to go, no matter how in the housing and communal services. Experts must diagnose the formed deepening and eliminate the deficiencies. If this measure, for some reason, turned out to be insufficient, then the owner has the right to appeal to the interdepartmental commission to recognize the premises as emergency. The commission must draw up an expert opinion, which stipulates the further possibility or impossibility of using the premises. Now in the case of a deep crack in the wall of the apartment, you already know where to go. And what to do if the naked eye can see that there is nothing serious. How to repair cracks in the wall of an apartment at home without assistance?

If the wall in the apartment is cracked, where to go if the appeal to housing and communal services does not bring results?

Of course, the repair of cracks in the wall in the apartment should be carried out by housing and communal services employees, and in case of such problems, citizens first of all turn to them. But what if such calls are ineffective and repairs are postponed under various pretexts. In this case, it is worth sending your just indignation to the State Housing Inspection. They will consider the complaint and influence the management company. If this did not work, then you can go to the prosecutor's office or court. But as a rule, it does not reach this stage, since the problem is solved earlier.

We figure out how to repair cracks in the wall of an apartment at home on our own

If you had a nightmare in which you started repairing cracks in the wall in an apartment, then wake up and carefully examine the room in which you live. If in reality everything is in order, then you urgently need to type in a search engine: the dream book is a crack in the wall of the apartment.

And if there is a crack in reality, then first it is important to understand how dangerous it is. To assess the full degree of danger, it is necessary to apply a palm-wide mark of plaster across the crack. Then you will need to observe the mark for a month. If nothing has cracked on top of the gypsum, the crack is stable enough to be repaired.

But first you need to clear the problem area down to the slab or brick itself, then wipe it with a damp cloth and let it dry thoroughly. It should be borne in mind that sealing cracks near electrical outlets in the walls of the apartment requires special care. Make sure the wiring is not damaged. Relocate the electrical outlet if necessary. By the way, before repairing problematic cracked areas near electrical outlets, you must definitely de-energize the room. Do not forget about alternative lighting, because it can get dark before you have time to finish the work.

How to repair a crack in a wall in an apartment?

It all depends on the size of the resulting cracked cavity. If the indentations are very small, less than a millimeter, then you can get by with a primer and putty. If a little more, up to three to five millimeters, then you will also need a cement mortar. The sealant is also a wonderful tool, it is injected into the recess using a special gun. The best option for cracked problem areas is fiberglass. It is glued to the wall with a special glue on a primed dry base, then the finishing putty is used. Fiberglass is good because it reinforces the surface. If the crack is not stable and not dangerous, then, in principle, sealing cracks in the wall of the apartment is not particularly difficult.

The main thing to learn here is one rule: the earlier you start working on the problem, the faster and with the best result it will be resolved.

By the way, these same problems are easily detected at the moment of removing the old wallpaper. It was already mentioned above which material is better to seal up cracks, but it was not said that the method of repair largely depends on the material of the walls.

Brick wall

In order to remove a crack in a brick wall, it must be cleaned, deepened and expanded at an angle of forty-five degrees. Then prime. A sealant is well suited for sealing here, since when it dries it acquires a slightly rubbery consistency. Place the sealant in the seam and remove the excess with a spatula. You can, instead of a sealant, use a cement mortar. Before placing it in the gap, it must be moistened with water.

Plasterboard wall

Although drywall is considered a versatile material, cracks can also appear on it during operation. The drywall sheets themselves are just material, not construction. They are mounted in the desired design position using a frame or glue. Problems arise, as a rule, due to the substrate, which was incorrectly installed or due to a defect in the sheets themselves.

If the builders made mistakes when installing the frame, then cracks can go along the entire plasterboard wall. This problem can be eliminated only after dismantling several sheets or even a frame.

If the crack is not very large and not related to installation, then you can try to seal it with putty.

Concrete wall

Cracks in a wall like this are not uncommon. PVA glue is perfect for sealing cracks in a concrete wall. It must be applied deep into the crack. Then fill the cavity with cement mortar and smooth with a spatula.

If the gap is too wide, then an additional reinforcing mesh must be used.

What to do if the ceramic tile wall is cracked?

Not necessarily, when the house shrinks, the walls in the rooms will crack. After all, they can crack in the bathroom or toilet, that is, where there is ceramic tile. What to do in such cases?

We remove the cracked tiles. To do this, we break it into small parts with a heavy metal tool, a hammer with a chisel or a perforator with a lance;
Next, remove all the fragments and clean up the surface. After that, you need to vacuum the area cleared of tiles and repair the crack in the wall using the appropriate method described above;
Then, we put the new tiles on the glue using the spacer crosses.

The crack in the apartment is not yet a reason for panic. The main thing here is not to get lost, but to start acting. Either independently, or, if you are not confident in your abilities, with the help of specialists. Moreover, all this can be solved. It is worse when a crack happens in a relationship with loved ones. After all, according to the dream book, a crack in the wall of an apartment is not a dream in vain. This means that some important part of your life is bursting at the seams. Now this is a reason to think about your life.

And you already know how to repair cracks in the wall of an apartment. So there is nothing to be afraid of. Everything will work out for you.

Foundation crack

If in a private house, garage or cottage cracks have gone along the walls, the foundation has cracked, it is not necessary to fall into despair, you can fix the damage that has arisen. The reasons for the appearance of such defects are uneven soil settlement, the assumption of structural miscalculations at the design stage, errors during construction work or the influence of natural, mechanical influences on the foundation structure. Cracks in the foundation must be eliminated, otherwise the bearing capacity of the house structures may be disrupted and an irreversible consequence of collapse will occur.

Base cracks can be classified according to their location:

A horizontal crack in the foundation refers to a common type of fracture that occurs due to errors in the technology of masonry work, improper selection of the composition of mortars. Most often, horizontal cracks appear on tape structures erected in stages. Horizontal cracks do not pose a significant threat, however, it is recommended to timely repair cracks in order to prevent their further development.
A vertical crack appears due to the deformation of the base structure under the influence of soil swelling forces and from an increase in the groundwater level. The appearance of vertical cracks indicates the beginning of the process of destruction of the supporting structure, therefore, they should be quickly eliminated as soon as possible. If the foundation is cracked vertically, it is recommended to strengthen the base of the structure pillow.

In order to prevent the appearance of cracks in the supporting structure of the house, it is recommended at the design stage to conduct a thorough assessment of the geology of the basement soils, not to save on the purchase of high-quality building materials, correctly calculate the ultimate loads and take into account the possibility of soil changes under the influence of various natural factors.

Horizontal destruction of the foundation

Causes of foundation deformation

Before starting the repair of the base structure, it is necessary to determine the reason why the foundation cracked and choose the right method to eliminate the violations that have arisen. The most common reasons for which the foundation could burst could be the following factors.

Technological reasons

If during the construction work on the construction of the base, violations of the mandatory technological process are made, then all these errors will lead to the occurrence of destructive deformations. Therefore, it is so important to correctly reinforce the base, install the formwork system in sequence, select the correct grade of concrete mix, take into account the depth of freezing and the level of ground water at the site.

Operational reasons

Another reason for the opening of cracks in the foundation can be a violation of the mode of operation of housing construction. For example, the homeowner decided to add a second floor to the existing foundation of a one-story house. Such an increase in load can adversely affect the bearing capacity of the base structure and significant damage will appear on the foundation of the house.

Increased humidity in the basement of the building and the lack of drainage from the building - all these factors can be attributed to the operational causes of cracks.

Constructional reasons

Foundation crack initiation diagram

At the design stage of the building, it is necessary to conduct a geological study of the soils of the base of the building plot, to correctly calculate the load on the base structure. If, for some reason, such miscalculations were made, then significant deformation changes in the base structures may most likely occur.

Seeing cracks

When a crack appears on the foundation, experts advise observing the change in the size of the crack rupture, whether it will increase over time. The process of revealing the nature of crack fracture occurs in the following order:

An open crack should be carefully cleaned of plaster residues, dirt and dust.
Small plaster beacons with a thickness of no more than 5 mm are installed with a certain step. After that, we observe their condition.
If within two or three weeks the lighthouses did not crack and new deformations did not appear, then the foundation structure is not in danger and the crack on the surface is most likely formed from the shrinkage of the building.

A video tutorial of installing beacons can be seen:

Sealing simple cracks

Repair of simple cracks from shrinkage is carried out in several stages:

First, the crack cavity is cleaned of dust and rinsed with water.
After the dry crack, the entire possible depth is covered with a primer for outdoor use.
The crack cavity is filled with special sealants or cement mortar with a cement grade of at least 500.

Clearing a simple crack

Crack repair methods

Methods for repairing cracks in the foundation are selected depending on the type of materials of the main walls of the building. For stone, brick or wooden walls, there are special schemes for sealing cracks:

Strengthening the foundation of a stone or cinder block house is made with reinforced concrete clips, which are mounted on both sides of the foundation.
The foundation of a wooden house is rarely covered with deformation cracks. But if this happened, then you can use jacks to raise the wooden building, having previously freed all the rooms from furniture.
When strengthening the foundations of brick houses, it is possible to use two methods: pour the basement wall with a concrete mixture along a metal frame pre-installed around the entire perimeter, or install bored injection piles. The second method is very effective, in this way you can restore an almost destroyed foundation, but the price of such strengthening is quite high.

Video example of strengthening the foundation of a wooden house:

Ways to strengthen the base

Before strengthening the foundation, if there are cracks on the walls, it is necessary to choose the most suitable method for eliminating the occurrence of deformations. Modern construction technologies for sealing cracks in the foundation give optimal recommendations on what to do in such cases. The following methods of strengthening the foundation are usually used.

Reinforced outsole with new construction

First, the broken foundation is pre-cleaned of dirt and dust, the cracks are filled with repair mortar. A small trench no more than 60 cm wide is dug under the deformed section of the structure in a checkerboard pattern to a depth of 200-300 mm below the base of the foundation. The open base of the foundation must be filled with concrete and carefully compacted.

After backfilling and compaction of the soil, thus reinforced in the base section, it is possible to repair the next cracked section after a distance of 60 cm.

Reinforcement with special piles

The pile method of strengthening a cracked foundation is the most effective way. There are several types of piles according to the method of their installation:

Screw piles. The simplest and most common type of strengthening cracked foundations, which does not require special skills. The pile structure looks like a pipe with helical blades at the end. When installing, the pile is screwed into the ground, only the head remains visible on the surface.
The bored piles have a hollow structure with a height of 2 m, into which metal reinforcement is inserted, and after that the entire cavity is filled with a concrete mixture. Before installing bored piles, wells are drilled with a step of 1.5 to 2 m.
The use of the driven method of installing piles is not suitable for a dilapidated structure, since the walls of the building may crack from the blows of the pile driver.

Strengthening the foundation with screw piles

Additional reinforcement when strengthening the base

Strengthening a burst foundation by means of additional reinforcement consists in tying the entire basement part of the structure with a reinforcing mesh of longitudinal and transverse metal reinforcement, installing formwork and pouring a concrete mixture of at least 200 grade. This technology of strengthening the foundation is the most popular and less laborious than other methods.

When cracks appear in the foundation, you should carefully study the recommendations and instructions for their elimination. Of course, it is always difficult to repair than to build, so it is better not to make mistakes and not disrupt the technological construction process. Then there will be no need to strengthen the foundation.

All cracks appearing on the foundation of the house indicate that the base of the building needs to be strengthened or repaired. But in order to do it with your own hands, you need to know about the reasons for the destruction of the base, as well as how exactly restoration work should be carried out.

Why are cracks dangerous?

If the foundation of the building is cracked, you must immediately begin work on its restoration. If this is not done, after a while, due to the skewing of the house, the doors and windows will start to jam. If the house is made of bricks, the crack can spread to the wall, causing the entire structure to collapse. That is why it is necessary to begin work on strengthening the foundation as soon as possible.

Before starting the restoration work, it is worth determining the type of crack. To do this, it is enough to clean it from dust and rinse it with water. After that, you need to install a beacon on the fault. The date of consolidation is applied to it. This is necessary to determine the rate of destruction of the base. If the lighthouse remains intact within two weeks, the crack can simply be repaired with concrete. If the lighthouse breaks, it is necessary to begin work to strengthen the base.

Usually cracks begin to appear in winter or spring, since it is at this time that an incorrectly created foundation begins to rise or settle unevenly. It is worth remembering that the foundation can burst due to many reasons, so you need to think about this problem even at the design stage of the house.

Causes of faults

Before starting the restoration work, it is necessary to determine the reason due to which the destruction began. If these actions are neglected, even after repair, the base will gradually collapse. The causes of destruction can be divided into several groups:

Technological. An example is the creation of the foundation of a house with violations of the reinforcement or installation of formwork. Also, mistakes include choosing the wrong grade of concrete. A technological error is also considered to be the laying of a foundation above the water table.
Operational. Such mistakes are made already in the process of using the constructed structure. For example, an increase in the load on the foundation as a result of the creation of the second floor. Also, a violation is an increase in humidity in the basement or poor-quality installation of a drainage system near the house.
Structural. An example is the compilation of incorrect calculations during the design of a structure. Often the foundation begins to collapse ahead of time due to the fact that geological studies were not carried out before construction began.

Important! In order not to face the described problem before building a house, it is necessary to accurately calculate the load on the foundation.

Crack types

Cracks in the foundation of a wooden house that can occur on the foundation are divided into several types:

Hairy. Such cracks are hardly noticeable and have a thickness of no more than 3 mm. Their presence speaks only of a change in the outer layer of the base. Such flaws can be corrected quite easily.
Horizontal. Such defects do not affect the integrity of the foundation.
Shrinkage cracks. Such defects occur when the rules for creating a foundation are violated.
Vertical. It is these cracks that are a sign that the foundation needs repair. They often appear under the influence of groundwater on the base or due to heaving of the soil.

How to fix the problem

If you notice that the foundation of the house has cracked, you need to start strengthening it as soon as possible. Such work is performed as follows:

first, with the help of a jack, the sagging parts of the base are raised to the design level;
after this, pits are drilled, the diameter of which is from 20 to 40 cm;
the resulting void is filled with liquid glass, cement laitance or hot bitumen.

This reduces the permeability of the soil, which will make the soil more stable. The described strengthening method can only be used with the use of special equipment, therefore, professional builders must be hired for such work.

Strengthening the foundation of a stone house

The main task of repairing the base of the house is to stop the process of building upsetting. therefore it is impossible to dig under the foundation without securing it. A method of strengthening is often used, in which a reinforcing concrete belt is erected from all sides. Such work is performed as follows:

A trench is dug along the strip base of the house, the width of which is approximately 45 cm. During such work, the sole of the foundation must not be exposed.
After that, the foundation is cleaned of dirt and dust. In this case, all cracks must be opened with a spatula.
Then the falling off parts of the old foundation are removed.
In the next step, the concrete surface is treated with a primer. It is worth remembering that you need to choose formulations of deep penetration.
After that, holes are drilled in the foundation. The distance between them should be about 60 cm.
Anchors are driven into the created holes, which are subsequently welded to the reinforcement cage. The diameter of the reinforcement should be approximately 12 mm.
At the last stage, the concrete mixture is poured into the created trench. In order for the concrete solution to be evenly distributed over the trench, it is necessary to use a construction vibrator. It also helps to fill cracks in the old foundation. If this stage of work is neglected, voids can remain in the concrete, which will subsequently cause the foundation to collapse.

Backfilling of the soil occurs only after the concrete has completely solidified. If the cracks are not caused by subsidence or deformation of the foundation, they can be repaired with mortar and plastered.

It is worth remembering that if the work is carried out with an error, the foundation will quickly begin to collapse even if there are additional reinforcing elements of the structure.

Repair of the base of a house made of wood

The cracked foundation of a wooden house can be strengthened quite simply, since such structures can be lifted with a jack and installed on temporary supports. But it is worth remembering that if the lower logs are rotten, the structure cannot be lifted.

If the crowns are unreliable, rotten areas are cut out in them, after which the house is raised. After that, you can restore the foundation in one of the common ways. Often, owners of country houses install a concrete bandage around the base. You can also dig under the base and fill in concrete pillars. This will make the foundation resistant to significant loads.

It is worth remembering that before raising the house, it is necessary to disassemble part of the roof in the place where it connects to the chimney. To carry out such work, it is better to invite professional builders.

Reinforcement with piles

In some cases, it is not possible to increase the density of the soil under the structure. In such a situation, it is necessary to strengthen the base with piles:

If the house is wooden, the entire structure is raised on temporary supports, after which a bunch of heads with a grillage occurs. After that, the building is lowered to a new foundation.
In the case when it is necessary to strengthen the base without raising the house, "bulls" are used. They are piles that are driven obliquely from different sides of the corner. Beams are welded onto the heads of these elements, which will serve as a support for the structure.

When using piles, it is worth remembering that their length must be sufficient so that they abut against solid ground.

Monolithic slab repair

Monolithic foundations are destroyed quite rarely, but under certain conditions it is possible. If a serious crack appears on such a base, it can only be replaced with a new plate. No method will help stop the destruction of a monolithic foundation if it is already beginning to deform.

Conclusion

If it is impossible to completely replace the foundation for some reason, the walls are strengthened and the old sections of the slab are removed. In these places, concrete solution is poured, which helps to temporarily preserve the integrity of the structure. you can also install concrete blocks or piles as supports.

Foundation device for a private house
How to sheathe the foundation of a house outside
Pile foundation with grillage
Strengthening the foundation of a private house

Strengthening the foundation of a private house is necessary in two cases:

the foundation or wall of the house has cracked;
the reconstruction of the house with an increase in its mass is ahead, for which the existing foundation is not designed.

The first case is obvious. If there is a crack in the foundation, it means that something was done wrong, and an urgent need to correct the situation. And the second one is not so critical, but requires minimal preliminary calculations.

And the situations are different.

As cracks are different, so are their consequences.

In this case, there is nothing to save, but such catastrophic consequences, as a rule, if it is not the result of a serious earthquake, are preceded by primary signals in the form of small, sometimes subtle, cracks in the foundation.

There was a crack on the wall. How to react, do you need to immediately strengthen the foundation?

The formation of small cracks in the wall does not mean that you have problems with the foundation.

Often, such cracks appear on houses made of gas silicate blocks or with the use of other cellular concrete technologies and may be associated with a violation of the technology of their laying or even the technology of their production.

The material itself has a high moisture absorption, which leads to too active drying of the plaster and increased cracking.

Large waterlogging of blocks due to poor waterproofing can also lead to these consequences.

And on other buildings, it is often not the wall that cracks, but the finishing layer. Therefore, first of all, investigate the base. And if everything is in order with him, continue observing until you are finally convinced that the finish is cracking or symptoms of obvious weakness of the base appear.

If this happened, we suggest the following algorithm of actions.

Identification of destruction processes

1.Cut up the crack by removing the plaster around it.

2. At certain intervals, we install plaster beacons with a thickness of 3 - 5 mm and observe their behavior.

3. If after 2-3 weeks of observation none of the lighthouses cracks, you can sleep well, and in the intervals between sleep, choose a way to fix the problem.

But at the same time, it is advisable to extend the observation period to several months, and even better to survive the off-season in order to exclude the cause caused by the seasonal rise in groundwater.

But, above all, about natural causes. Few people know, but any, even a monolithic brick house shrinks within 1 - 5 years from the date of construction, therefore, you can plaster and put windows and doors in it after at least 1 year, or even more, which is often violated ... Uneven shrinkage is possible due to differences in the formulation or ingredients of masonry mortars, and the brick itself. It is in this case that cracks can appear and the foundation has nothing to do with it.

If the reason is precisely in him, and you are convinced of this, do the same procedures with beacons with him. Perhaps this is a one-time slight subsidence due to the presence of small voids in the ground under it, which stopped after a slight subsidence of a part of the base.

So, what if the cracks formed in the wall and foundation do not grow for a considerable time?

Easy repair of cracks in the wall

If cracking has not increased and cracks are small:

Remove small fragments from it and dust as much as possible, using a vacuum cleaner if possible.
Prime to maximum depth with a deep penetration primer.
Fill the crack with polymer or polymerised cement mortar available from home improvement stores.

For more complex methods, such as injection, it is better to invite specialists with the appropriate equipment and devices.

If the crack in the foundation grows, look for the cause.

The reasons for the destruction of the foundation and how to eliminate them

They can be local (sometimes banal) or global.

If you have long horizontal cracks in the basement, then the reason may not be in the foundation, but in the blind area that you connected to it, and which rises by frost heaving forces, transferring deformations to the outer part of the basement.

It is clear that it will need to be redone, installing a damper tape, and repair the base.

If your corner of the house sags and there is a water drainage pipe in this place, you can call yourself a bad word and get down to the device of a point drainage. In many cases, this will stop the process.

If your foundation has cracked for no apparent reason, you should make pits in the ground at the place of the crack, as well as on the sagging coal, on both sides of it at a distance of about half a meter, to a depth just below the level of the foundation.

If water appears in the pits, then you need to immediately start building a drainage system, otherwise no strengthening of the foundation will save you. How to do it see here.

The foundation can crack if underneath there are so-called. voids in the ground, unnoticed during construction, because few people carry out serious geodetic studies when building individual housing. It can also happen due to incorrect calculation of loads or violation of the technology of its device.

In these cases, it needs to be strengthened.

How to strengthen the foundation with your own hands

How to strengthen the foundation if there is a crack in the wall? Let's make a reservation right away, we will describe the methods that you can apply yourself, without the involvement of specialized organizations, and to strengthen the foundation of a brick house, and to strengthen the foundation of an old wooden structure. If none of them suits you, contact the professionals.

Let's consider the ways.

1.Tying the basement of the house.

It is used if the foundation has cracked in many places or before the reconstruction of the house with an increase in the load on its foundation.

At the same time, it is rarely possible to strap the foundation tape on both sides. An exception is strip foundations under wooden or frame houses, which can be completely evenly lifted on jacks.

In other cases, the foundation is tied from the outside. For this:

they dig a trench along the foundation along the perimeter of the building to a depth below its occurrence by 150 - 300 mm, and if possible, then under it by 1/3 of its width;
make a drainage cushion from a layer of sand (up to 100 mm) and crushed stone (up to 100 mm);
they carry out a spatial strapping of reinforcement of 10 - 12 mm, connecting it to the existing foundation by drilling holes in it and hammering in pieces of reinforcement;
expose the external formwork and pour concrete of a grade not lower than M200.

A variant of such a strapping in the video:

2. Reinforcement of the foundation with a double-sided bench.

This method is also good when it is possible to lift the entire building.

Or it must be produced in sections, gradually tearing off the foundation tape so that a constant support remains on the existing foundation.

This type of amplification can be done in two ways:

with chipping of the existing foundation and the establishment of an unloading beam in the groove;
bringing the beam under the foundation strip.

In any case, its basis is a banquet made of monolithic reinforced concrete, fed under the tape of the existing foundation, and several supporting and unloading beams, which are subsequently concreted outside together with the banquet.

3. Strengthening the foundation with screw piles.

For this:

tear off a section of the foundation that needs to be strengthened;
screw piles under it at an angle;
concreting both the place around the piles and under the foundation.

4. Strengthening the foundation with a reinforced concrete pad.

Most often, in this way, the sagging corner of the house is strengthened, although it is also possible to eliminate the cause of the local subsidence of the foundation section, which was formed as a result of water supply or sewage leaks not detected in time.

Work order:

to open the foundation on both sides of the corner by at least a meter, with an indent from it by half a meter and deepening under it by half a meter;
arrange a drainage cushion as described above;
make a spatial frame from reinforcement of at least 10 - 14 mm with a connection to the existing foundation by drilling it;
concreted to a height just below ground level.

And here is the video. It is a bit long, but informative, and most importantly: everything was done without errors.

Elimination of cracks in the wall after repairing the foundation

After strengthening the foundation or strapping the basement, the crack in the wall must be repaired. If it is small, you can use the method described above, as well as for filling cracks in the foundation. And if it is too large, then:

fill the gap with a polymerized cement-sand mortar, you can tighten it with temporary (or permanent) screeds, with the same solution filling a possible gap above the foundation;

having pierced the wall across the crack in several places, install hidden metal screeds with pins deep into entire sections of the wall and seal it with the same polymer-cement-sand mortar.

Of course, it is better to eliminate the consequences of such repairs by combining it with decoration, or even insulation of the facade of the house.

Dear readers, if you have any questions, ask them using the form below. We will be glad to communicate with you 😉

Sometimes cracks form in the foundation of a house. And the owners of the building quite reasonably begin to wonder what to do in such a situation. Not in all cases, a burst foundation negatively affects the integrity of the building. But in most situations, it will not be superfluous to repair it. Even if the cracks are still very small, they are hairy.

What are the cracks in the base fraught with?

If the foundation of the house is cracked for some reason, it is recommended that the crack be repaired without delay. After all, if the problem is not eliminated at the stage of its occurrence, the consequences can be the most undesirable. At best, windows and doors will begin to jam, and at worst, the crack will spread to the wall of the building, and the latter will collapse in the shortest possible time.

To avoid problems, the first thing to do is to determine the type of crack. For this, the crack should be thoroughly cleaned of accumulated dirt and dust and rinsed with water. After that, you need to prepare a plaster beacon. It is marked with the date when the foundation cracked (or when it was first noticed). The lighthouse is set in a crack and observation begins. The behavior of the problem area of \u200b\u200bthe foundation should be monitored for a sufficiently long period of time. If the beacon as a result remains intact, then the foundation is not cracked through and through and the crack does not pose a great danger. For purely aesthetic reasons, it can be repaired with cement mortar and forget about the problem.

The beacon will also help to track whether the break in the foundation is increasing. If this happens, then the foundation is cracked through and through, and something should be done immediately.

Most often, the base of the house begins to crack during the winter or spring periods of time. So, if the foundation of the house is installed incorrectly, in winter it will inevitably begin to rise unevenly, and in the spring it will also settle unevenly. For a certain period of time, the structure will successfully withstand such overloads, but after a few years a vertical or horizontal crack will certainly appear.

Reasons for base cracking

If the foundation of a brick or wooden house has cracked, you should figure out why this happened. There can be many prerequisites for base cracking:

Technological reasons

The foundation that broke due to technical reasons was most likely incorrectly poured during the laying process. Another reason for the appearance of cracks can be incorrectly mounted formwork, deep freezing of concrete in the winter, insufficient amount of used reinforcement, and much more.

Operational reasons

If the foundation suddenly cracked due to operational reasons, most likely this was due to the superstructure of the building. But in some case, the bursting of the basement vault is explained by the lack of a drainage system around the house and an increase in the level of humidity in the basement.

Constructional reasons

How to strengthen the base of a building

If you do not know how to strengthen the base of a building and what to do so that even hairline cracks do not appear on it, some useful tips are unlikely to be superfluous.

Often, to strengthen the base of the house, an injection method is used using synthetic resin or ordinary cement.

To implement this method, it is necessary to drill a hole in the body of the foundation, the diameter of which is about 30 mm and maintain a distance of about 0.5 m. The depth of the hole should be selected depending on the size of the protective layer. An injector is immersed in the resulting wells and the space is filled with a solution under pressure. If there is a need to identify weakly bearing soils under the base of the house, it is additionally necessary to cement the soil under the foundation.

Eliminating gaps in pile foundations

Strengthening pile foundations and preventing their cracking is often done by converting from a pile foundation to a strip one. To carry out such an operation, concrete lintels are installed. In some cases, such lintels must be made to the full height of the base of the structure. This makes it possible in the foreseeable future to equip a basement without unnecessary difficulties.

Eliminating gaps in tape bases

If the strip foundation is cracked, in order to repair it, you will need to apply a whole range of restoration methods. In this case, it will not be enough to seal the cracked area with cement mortar, since this step will not solve the problem. It will be more expedient to strengthen the base with bored-type piles, the soil - with a drainage system and arrangement of a heat-insulating blind area.

Piles, installed under the sole of the base of the house in the form of a support, reliably keep the foundation tape from subsidence. As for drainage, if everything is done correctly, it will contribute to an increase in the depth of freezing of the soil and thereby prevent the base from sinking over time.

Cracking can also be avoided by screeding the tape masonry. This technology uses the introduction of two special crutches directly into the body of the base, which are connected to each other by means of a clamp. This design works both as a screed and as a shock absorbing element. At the same time, the crack can be repaired with concrete or reinforced with epoxy resin.

After the blind area, support or screed is installed, you must use a marker-marker (flag), which will fix the state of the cracked area. To do this, along the edges of the fault, you will need to attach a certain amount of epoxy resin, on which an ordinary wire is pulled. If, when the seasons change, the thread does not break, and the base of the house does not continue to sag, then the destructive process has been successfully prevented.

Elimination of plate break

If you need to close the gap of the slab foundation, you should be prepared for the dreary work ahead. The only good news is that this will only have to be done in an exceptional case, since the plates rarely crack. But if the rupture of the slab does occur, a complete or partial replacement of the base will be required.

Long-term practice clearly demonstrates the fact that it is not possible to stop the destruction of the slab. Therefore, you will have to dig under the slab, reinforce in those places where the split occurred, remove damaged parts and re-fill the damaged area and mount pile or block supports.

Unfortunately, even such manipulations cannot give one hundred percent guarantee that the plate will not continue to collapse. Therefore, in some cases it may be necessary to rebuild the house again.

Thus, it turns out that it is much easier to avoid the occurrence of base breaks than to deal with them.