The lower floor of my house has concrete walls above grade and one wall has developed small cracks here and there. The cracks are less than 1/4" in width and varies in lengths. What is the best product out there to fill these cracks prior to painting?
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Strong men create easy times, Easy times create weak men & weak men create hard times. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum
In 1944 18-20 year old's stormed beaches, and parachuted behind enemy lines to almost certain death.
In 2015 18-20 year old's need safe zones so people don't hurt their feelings. "Author Unknown"
In 2021 18-40 year old's want to and work to cancel you out if you have a different opinion.
The cracks can be usually repaired from the inside. I have a waterproofing contractor that drills the cracks and injects them through straw like small pipes with his solution and then injects through the same with water to activate the solution. He offers a lifetime warranty with his service. I would suggest that you hire a local licensed and insured professional weatherproofer to carry out the repairs if you intend to conceal them within a chase wall with insulation and drywall. If you are just painting and the crack will always be exposed, then give it a whirl yourself with tdt91's suggestion..good luck with it! I just noticed that you said the concrete walls were above grade...is this a typo? If they are in fact above grade and you want to make sure that they do not get worse..then another suggestion would apply...Kevlar bats should be applied by a professional from the inside to keep things in place ...most waterproofing contractors can provide this service as well...mine has a lifetime warranty with his application of this method as well...not trying to sell you anything here...don't even know where you live! Just trying to give friendly advice...
The SST epoxy as well as many others out there seal and bond the concrete back together. Once it's done you will hardly notice it. Go to your local Construction supply dealer and they will have something in stock. SST has so many now I pretty much got lost on the website. I kind I used to sell was an injectable epoxy that used nozzels for the injection and a puddy like paste epoxy to keep it from coming out. Once your done the paste is scrapped off.
2000 Javelin Renegade 20 DC.
Strong men create easy times, Easy times create weak men & weak men create hard times. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum
In 1944 18-20 year old's stormed beaches, and parachuted behind enemy lines to almost certain death.
In 2015 18-20 year old's need safe zones so people don't hurt their feelings. "Author Unknown"
In 2021 18-40 year old's want to and work to cancel you out if you have a different opinion.
Yes The wall is above grade. I live on a bluff/hill on the lake, its hard to describe. It's a finished walk out style bottom floor, not necessary a basement. These are small cracks that I believe is from settling and recent increase in earthquakes in NE Oklahoma. The cracks are very small and minor in my opinion and do not leak, the cracks are on the interior side of the wall. I can not see what the exterior looks like due to rock covering the concrete.
I'd bet that the cracks are in the form of steps like the block was laid through the mortar joints...If you are not going to cover this up...then caulk the cracks and paint or use the epoxy method and paint...it they come back and start to get worse, then you need to seek the service of a professional that can apply the Kevlar bats...The best of luck to you..and happy holidays!
If active, epoxy structural repair won't work as the crack will open. Inject with a urethane solution in the spring, when the water would leak in, then parge over or surface treat with a paintable surface treatment. Urethane needs water to set up. Alternatively, if leaking and not too far below grade, dig from the outside and do a positive side repair, which is better than fixing from the inside every time.
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