the concrete mortar is only used to mount the injector ports. The repair material is polyurethane foam.

Epoxy is only better long term if you’re in a place with steadier climates, epoxy is harder which means if temperature fluctuates a lot like in Canada, the foundation will move causing a harder material to crack faster, would highly recommend concrete if such a climate is lived in 👍🏼

@@gamenstuff8125 sort of makes sense

Sorry for the late response; just getting through some older comments now. Congrats on getting it done! Hopefully it worked well for you. It's not the prettiest solution but it has work well for me so far

Thanks! Everything works perfectly in the official video; we thought we'd show another perspective!

Great to hear! Thanks for the feedback. Ours is still holding up but it's only been a few months yet. Thanks for watching!

I am in the same boat, it's a 60 year old house and it's no worth it digging up the yard along the sides of the house, tearing up the concrete. I will try this and see how it goes. I am just waiting for the damn water to stop pouring in :)

@@saxytb Yeah, as long as it's not "pouring in" as you say and just damp, then damp is a good thing with this stuff, as it follows the water into the crack. This stuff actually comes in a dual chamber tube when I used it, with water and polyurethane and when it comes out the tip, they mix. It's a decent option and for under a $100 it can be a decent fix and was actually better than I thought. I was kinda shocked it worked. Her's was a trickle mind you and only in heavy rains, but the crack was letting in enough water that it made the basement floor wet. Beats spending hundreds more or thousands digging up the yard etc. right? Good luck, I hope it works for you.

that's what would satisfy an engineer's ego XD, great job

@First Last Far as I know, it held up fine. My mother sold the house a few years ago and that was about 6 years after I did it. I also tried to remedy (simply) any future issues though from outside, which likely helped, by finding the source outside. An outside leaky faucet that the previous owner before my mother, had not addressed (but she did upon moving in, the damage was already done by then however). Just not leaking from the wall during storms until she'd been there for about a decade. So, there was a channel of nothing, right about where the crack started from on the inside wall, down next to the foundation, a literal void. Fills with water during heavy storms and voila, leak. I redid her rotten deck before she sold it, which exposed this tap and hole below it, as I was building a smaller deck anyway, without the added "L" section over the tap and basement window. So I thought "I should fill that", as any logical person would do. Took some dirt and gravel and shoved it into the hole and took the extra cement from the one cement piling/support I had to replace for the deck to mount on and poured it on top of the now filled hole. And then laid two patio stones/pavers over that, under the tap and sloped them toward the lawn. So that any water from the tap or rain, (which was when the leak was most noticeable, during heavy rain), would flow away from the house and previous hole to the lawn instead. Anyway, I digress, back to the subject, yeah this polyurethane injection is designed for precisely those kind of jobs, hairline cracks etc. and can handle even a few mm wide ones. The kind of jobs you don't want to dig up the yard or foundation to fix, from the outside and can be fixed from the inside. It's a method a lot of professional basement sealer guys do too. But you can DIY the same thing yourself. $75 (maybe cheaper where you live, I'm in Canada everything is expensive here, vs. the U.S.), it's worth a shot. It's meant to fix minor leaks and problems/cracks. Her's was a bit more than hairline, at some points anyway and it was invading at the grout lines of the cinder blocks it was built with and you could see the "steps" it was creating. Like a set of stairs, down the wall. lol. So that gives you a rough idea of it's capabilities. The crack ranged from 1-3mm at spots. It swells which is nice for sealing/filling gaps. I don't think I would trust it to do anything upwards of 3mm anyway, that's a pretty serious crack and a weakened foundation risk then and should be properly addressed. But minor cracks, sure, this stuff excels at it. I love the simplicity. As the old solution to this problem, was a much bigger endevour and expensive.

Thanks!

your welcome. Hope it was helpful

So far, so good for us. We've had a few rains since then and no water ingress through this crack. It wasn't the prettiest fix but it appears to be working! Thanks for watching and good luck with your own!

Thanks for sharing too!

Most people knock them off and I used some fine Quickrete to smooth it over to match the texture of the rest of the wall then painted it to match. Looked great, like nothing had ever been done to it.

Heh, yeah, I did knock a few off as well. The silicone is a good idea. I just stuck with the hot melt and was extra careful not to hit them. I also would hold them in place with my free hand when applying the mortar.

Same

Need to repair my basement this weekend will try this. Thank

Ha! Interesting idea!

Hah, always try to keep a positive mindset! :p Like the way I keep hoping for an Expos return!

@@Handyverse An hockey team in QC city with that? Lol

"Sort of, yes. Not a soft foam, no. Not fast expanding like that either, slow. A hard foam though, yes, certanly and a similar idea. If you've ever used original Gorilla glue, then you've used this. Remember with original Gorilla glue (not their super glue or 5 min. epoxy versions etc. now). You had to wet your surfaces first with water and then apply the glue and join them? Then it slowly expanded and made a super strong bond. This is the same thing, water-catalyzed polyurethane glue.

Yeah, that's what my kit was like, it was epoxy. It is better too, yes. If you want concrete texture, then go over the epoxy after knocking off the ports, with some fine Quickrete. That's what I did and then painted it to match. Looked like nothing had ever been done to it. I even ran my hand over it later and couldn't even detect the repair, hehe. Here's what the professionals about epoxy say and why it is a wise choice on concrete especially "A major advantage of epoxies is their surface tolerance, as they can adhere extremely well to a variety of substrates and are hard, durable surfaces. Epoxies also offer the following significant benefits: Ability to Bond To Concrete: In situations where a concrete substrate must receive a coating, epoxies can bind with it both chemically and mechanically. Thick Build Coats: Thanks to their thickness, epoxy build coats are able to be self-level, and can create smooth surfaces by filling cracks and other small blemishes. Long Term Durability and High Performance: Once treated with an epoxy resin, substrates will have a harder, more durable surface that provides good impact resistance." This is likely why some injection kit manufacturers, use epoxy. It's an extra layer of protection, when you think about it. The weakness is already there and slapping more mortar on there isn't going to fix it/strengthen it, or even bond to it properly. There's a very real potential, that years down the road, that may crack off, if moisture seeps in again or the house shifts a little. There's no "extra sealing" or bonding going on there, but lo and behold, there certainly is with epoxy. And an increased strength factor due to excellent bonding of the substrate. I mean, look at epoxy's cousin, cold steel epoxy/JB Weld. The stuff has a pretty respectable psi rating for strength and is tough and extremely versatile. It's like Frank's Red Hot Sauce, I put that s*&t on everything. lol.

I'm still mad about the 94 season... 😜

Interesting. How is it holding up?

Thanks! Glad you found it helpful

I did the same just under 10 years ago and it worked great. My kit used epoxy though rather than mortar for the ports and over the crack and epoxy is better. It bonds extremely well to concrete, both chemically and mechanically and adds strength and sealing effect. If you want a concrete texture afterwards, knock off the ports and smooth a thin layer of Quickrete or whatever over it and it will match the concrete perfectly. Slapping mortar over concrete, has the potential to chip off down the road. It's got no solid chemical bond to it and barely mechanical and zero moisture sealing effect, it's porous. Unlike epoxy, which is so awesome it does both. The pros trust epoxy because of it's unique chemistry with cement. It's epoxy's favourite substrate really.

Thanks!

Thanks!

It looks HIDEOUS!!

Hello from the east coast! I'm still waiting for the Expos to return!

Thanks for the comments! I'm not a professional so take my suggestions with a grain of salt but my recommendation would be to avoid doing it when things are frozen. The logic being that if your crack is filled with ice, the foam wouldn't be able to expand into where it needs to go to fix it. Wet should be fine. In fact, you're supposed to wet the crack before applying the foam to activate the product. In short, wet ok; ice bad. Good luck!

+Steve Wilson it's been a few months now and we haven't had any water come in through this crack (and we've had a few very rainy days). I'd say that the fix seems to be doing quite well and I'm happy with it. I wouldn't hesitate to use it again if I needed any crack fixed. I would use different mortar right from the beginning though. I hope your crack stays sealed for you. Thanks for watching!

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us. It's helpful to all of us when we share information and ideas, it makes us all better. Cheers. All the best to you. Steve and Dawn Wilson

Haha, thanks. They still seem to have quite a following

yes

Thanks!

Lol. It doesn't leak though! 🤪

Interesting. Thanks. Didnt know this.

this is not epoxy that was injected

Epoxy glue is for dry cracks. This polyurethane is suggested for wet conditions like water working through. I’m really surprise Sika provided a mud to cover over the crack. The standard cover is another epoxy, usually gray color, from a tube that glue the injection tubes to the wall and then applied over the length of the crack. The epoxy hardens and then the epoxy or polyurethane glue is injected. The glue is rated to be even stronger than the mason or concrete wall.

The crack was about 8 feet long. One tube was plenty. However, I did need to buy more mortar.

@Handyverse I know it's an old comment but I to had an 8 foot Crack and the new kits come with 3 bags and I found 2 to be enough, I did one bag at a time but I'm a bricklayer and know how to use a trowel quickly

Sorry, we'd like to try to help but we're not sure if we understand the question.

Awesome, creative solution! I hope it holds up for you. Sometimes you need to be unconventional when dealing with some of the issues you find in older homes!

I have same issue but it's the snap-ties leaking for me

W

They are the ports you use to inject the product. Is this what you are referring to?

I've had mixed results with the concrete caulking but I'm glad to hear it worked out for you. Thanks for the tips!

The problem with concrete caulking is your only sealing the crack and not straight through the concrete after some years water will damage your foundation. unless you repair it from bothsides then your better off using blue seal and blue seal roll on inside. products like this expand through the whole crack sealing it inside and out although i like the radon seal better. in 5 years or so you will start to see the water finding its way through new cracks it erroded over time calling for a larger repair i have fixed many now. hopefully this doesnt happen and you fixed the problems outside to stop the water! :D

Wow. haha Concrete chalk is for sealing and cosmetic not structural.

That stuff was never meant to seal out moisture all that well though. It's blow foam insulation in a can really. Meant to fill gaps against cold etc. And yes, it expands fast and big and makes a mess. This works on a similar expanding foamy principle, but happens much slower and tamer and is designed against water permeation (even though it initially relies on water for the reaction, gotta love chemistry, lol). That blow foam stuff is not designed against water. Even though it can fare o.k. it it's presence depending on how wet it gets. This stuff can be in water's presence constantly. Have you ever used the original Gorilla Glue (not their other glues, like 5 min. epoxy and their version of krazy glue)? But the original Gorilla Glue, where you applied water to the surface before applying the brownish yellow coloured glue to the surface and it would slowly bubble and expand and make a super strong bond? Well this is literally the same kind of glue, water catalysed expanding polyurethane glue. It's much finer and can seep into crevices well (unlike blow foam insulation in a can), as it is attracted to water and chases it. That's why it shines in this application. I did it about 10 years ago and it worked great and is still going.

@@robknott1687 Precisely, well said. This stuff is extremely hydrophilic and literally "chases" water into the crack. Allowing it to penetrate extremely deeply into the concrete and expand to fill the gap. There is no way concrete caulking gets anwywhere near that and offers no added structural integrity or moisture sealing ability like this. It's practically cosmetic with some outside water protection. Purely skin deep though. Not like this stuff.

Thanks! We're glad you found it helpful

Your location in the phillipines. Tnx

Sorry for the late reply! Good advice and I agree. I actually left this overnight. The parts that popped off on me were where the expansion foam had nowhere else to go.

I would agree about not bothering with the kit and buying the items separately. The extra bag of mortar that I used covered more than five feet on my wall; probably closer to eight. Good luck!

@@Handyverse Thanks!! Was planning on doing the job tomorrow morning, so your quick reply is VERY appreciated, knowing that I don't have to stress if I'll have enough!

Awesome, good luck! If you have any other questions, just let us know and we'll try to help. One good thing about the mortar part is that even if you do run out, you can pause, go pick up some more, and come back to it later without causing any issues.

Sure, but I would go over it with some kind of sealer, like the black stuff they put around foundations to seal the porous concrete. But it would serve the same "creeping deep into the crack and expanding to seal it" by chasing water into it, just like inside.

Yup, it stopped the leak completely. No ingress at all since I used this

Thanks for the suggestions! We're glad to hear that it worked for you. Thanks for watching.

I'm here asking the same thing

This is "One" ya don't hear about. Thanks for the heads up. Can't fault the citizen for doin it though. If they could wave a "wand" and do it no matter how bad they would. That is what separates the "Workman" from the dabbler.

Yup, epoxy bonds to cement both mechanically and chemically. Creating an intrinsic bond that actually improves structural integrity and acts as a sealer.

Handyverse do you have a Harbor Freight close by? $40 will buy you a 3 gallon compressor. They work pretty well! Hope that repair kit fixes your water problem. I'm leery on 'kits' myself. But hey...if it works 👍

Looking forward to your review if it actually prevents water from coming in. One thing that I am thinking is if the water was penetrating where foundation and ceiling joist meet. But good luck.

The part where the foundation and ceiling joist meet is actually above grade so I'm not worried about that. The only concern might be if the leakage there didn't allow it to properly expand into other cracks and crevices. We did have a couple of rainfalls since I did this and I'm happy to say it hasn't leaked. Unfortunately, we still have water ingress from another source, but this crack was good. Looks promising so far!

Hmmm, I thought I replied to this already but it looks like it didn't go through. I'm leery of kits as well but so far so good with this one. I'd probably buy the parts individually next time but otherwise it seems to have worked (even if it's pretty ugly...). We don't have Harbor Freight here but have Princess Auto which is like the Canadian equivalent. For the amount I need/use a compressor though, I'll probably just stick with the bicycle pump! Thanks for watching!

Used similar, yeah, except my kit used epoxy to go over the crack and attach the plugs, which is better than mortar. As epoxy not only mechanically bonds to concrete, but chemically too. And it has a better sealing effect than mortar, as it's not nearly as porous. Concrete is epoxy's favourite substrate actually, it bonds extremely well to it and increases structural integrity.

The brand that uses epoxy, what is the name of it?

@@TheGentleman__ You can also buy 2 part epoxy separately if you want to use it with a kit that doesn't come with it. I don't remember the name of the one I used, but it came with nothing, just the caulking gun tube of both water and polyurethane and the injection plugs. I had to buy either epoxy or mortar separately and epoxy was the pro choice and is indeed better. As it bonds to concrete not only mechanically but chemically too. Makes an extremely hard, strong bond and improves structural integrity, the mortar doesn't really and could even chip/crack off down the road. Epoxy's favourite substrate in fact is concrete and it helps seal it too cause it's not super porous like mortar.

That is a good point; you do need to make sure there is plenty of mortar around the ports or they will pop off. Sorry to hear it didn't work for you.

That's why some kits use epoxy to seal over the crack and attach the ports, not mortar like he did. It bonds to concrete super well and acts as a nonporous sealer too. Unlike mortar which is very porous. There's no problem with the ports, when epoxied into the wall and crack. And he's incorrect to call this stuff epoxy too, lol, it's expanding polyurethane glue, just like original Gorilla Glue. They are two distinct things, but epoxy is part of this equation, just in a different way. Remember, you had to wet your surfaces to be bonded, just like this? Same stuff really.

No leaks at all after a year and a half.

Doesn't look that way in your Nov 2018 fan filter video. What is all that around the wall??

@@Handyverse Hey there! So I bought a kit and worked on it the last 2 days. I had to pick up 2 extra tubes of the polyurethane as my crack was pretty wide and deep in some spots. But it all worked out I think. A buddy of mine who owns a foundation repair company (who said he'd come fix it for free) said I did a good job. Thanks for the video!

"hydrophilic" not hydrophobic. Phobic means it repels water, this stuff is attracted to water, it chases it. You are correct though, this is not epoxy, it's water catalysed expanding polyurethane glue really=like original Gorilla glue. Remember you had to wet the surfaces before applying Gorilla glue and that initialized the expanding and bond action? Same stuff. And yes, it creates and hard foam once dried. Epoxy however, is part of this equation, when done properly (not with mortar over the crack and to attach ports like he did, that's inferior). Epoxy is used over the crack and to attach the injection ports. And it's the choice of pros because unlike mortar, it's not nearly as porous=acts as a sealer. It bonds extremely well to concrete not only mechanically but chemically too and is hard and adds to structural integrity. Sure epoxy is brittle when pressed hard enough, I get your point but it's actually pretty strong and is only acting as an additional layer/polyurethane holder in the crack in this scenario. And when you impregnate it with steel like it's cousin JB Weld, it actually has an impressive psi rating.

Thanks for the feedback. We had this problem on a few of our earlier videos. I think we have it sorted out now for newer releases :)

Still good. Not a drop of water since

@@Handyverse I been lately going crazy searching for products like this. Did you by chance seal the other side ? Thank u for the reply as well !

No, we haven't sealed outside. That area of the house is below our deck so not easy to access. The intention was to do the outside at the same time we replaced the deck.

Unfortunately most of the houses where we live do have basements. Fact of life for us

Yes, probably 95% of houses do have basements, and that's okay - but I just don't like'em, hence, my house(s) are ranch style(s).

I hear you, but they make great workshop / storage areas. The way I look at it, is I rather have the space and have to do a little repair now and then than be without the space. My house is 50 years old and we are now just starting to see these problems. So for 50 years worth of use I think a repair or two will be worth it. Also just because you dont have a walk in basement dont mean there is no foundation, you still have a slab and could run into problems with that too.

@@MrNota500 Yes, those are good points, esp. if one buy a new or near new house, the basement s/be good for some time. But I don't know if you know, but a basement that is being used by a family, take up about 40% of a utility bill...that's a lot. Anyways, some people love the basements, and some don't.

Hmmm, the links still work for us; I'm not sure what's happening there. It isn't an epoxy (I don't remember now but if I said that in the video, it was a mistake). It's a type of expanding foam that actives when it touches water.

@@Handyverse at 8:46

They'll come back some day...

or even a sawzall blade.

Thanks for the tip

Heh, yup. It's one of the reasons we wanted to share the video. If you watch the official one, they do everything and it's nice and easy with no mess. The reality of it is that, while it works to seal, it's not the prettiest solution. Thanks for watching.

We don't disagree and that is why we are working on a french drain as well. You can check out that video too if you like

Because he only showed a video on a product review that is for inside patches, you feel compelled to post that gem and then laugh at him? I imagine you have very few friends.

this has held up well so far