In this episode, Richard Comeras (aks “The Crackman”) discusses the common things that home inspectors routinely flag as foundational faults. These faults negatively affect home sellers by delaying closing or outright running interested buyers away from the home. Addressing foundation faults early will help you sell your home faster. Listen and enjoy!
Narrator: It’s time once again for the “Crack Man Podcast” hosted by A1 Foundation Crack Repair. We’re here with the Crackman himself, Rich Comeras. Rich has 30 years of experience in the construction industry and over 20 years’ experience as the founder and president of A1 Foundation and Crack Repair Inc. His podcasts provides expert basement water proofing, concrete repair, and preventative maintenance tips for homeowners and businesses. A1 Foundation’s excellent insight will help avert a disastrous flood within the basement, health problems associated with water infiltration within the basement, and protect your biggest investment….your home. The topic for today’s podcast: Could Your Home’s Foundation Doom it’s Chances of Selling?
So Rich, you work with a lot of real estate agents, right? What are some of the things you’ve seen where a cracked foundation impacts the prospect of a sale?
Crackman: Often times what happens is the really good brokers do a walk through of the whole house. They know the things to look for in the basement because home inspectors are going to pick on those. They’d rather have things go smooth rather than have the deal stopped dead in its tracks. People will want to negotiate for thousands and thousands of dollars for things that may need to be repaired for hundreds.
One thing that we see all the time is stone foundations. With stone foundations, a lot of times the mortar between the stones breaks down. You can chip it with your pinkie. So often times we’re repairing stone foundations because we know the home inspectors are going to pick on that. People get scared and think that the house is going to fall down before they even put an offer in. Other things we see on poured concrete foundations, cracks in the foundation walls that allows water to come in. Again, people think that the house is going to fall down. Other things that we see that people get frightened about, you might have seen it on either concrete or stone blog walls in the basement is this white powdery, crystal looking material. All that is lime and minerals that have been pushed forward onto the surfaces. People think that it is mold. In fact is just fluorescence of the minerals. So you may want to wire brush that off.
Also what were seeing is home inspectors picking on temporary Lally columns, the ones with the screw jacks. Or steel Lally columns that are rusted at the bottom. The engineers tell us that you can loose up to a third of the strength. So we do install permanent Lally columns.
Narrator: Outstanding information, Rich. So if your in the market to sell your house, consider how your foundation can impact the sale of your home. Contact a pro like “The Crackman” if you see any of the issues that he described in this podcast.
If you have a basement water problem and think you need a professional, or, if you’d like more information on foundation repair and waterproofing topics, please visit
A1FoundationCrackRepair.com or call Rich at (866) 929-3171. Or you can email rich at info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.