About a week ago we experienced a Nor'Easter here in Massachusetts. It really hit Boston hard on the waterfront and there are some really high end apartments in that area. I was watching the news and there was a dumpster floating down the street. A few hours later we got a call from a condo property manager on that street. There was water coming in. What we found out through pictures is that it was...

Q.I've got a leaking coal chute and everything I have tried has failed. Is there anything the crackman can do to fix it? A. Yes. First, I'd like to explain what a coal chute is. In the old days, people heated their homes with coal. And, rather than bring the coal to the basement where the furnace is in buckets, there was a little hole on the outside of the house. It's like a little...

I recently did a repointing job in Quincy. I was referred to them by a pest control company who will take care of the rats once they are inside. But, they do not stop the rats or mice from coming in through the foundation. Especially with stone foundations where there is mortar between the stones. Rats can gnaw on this and make larger holes. We went into Quincy, where they have such a problem, there...

Here is another flexseal failure from Arlington, MA. "The first picture which shows the side view you can see the gap where the precast stairs meet the foundation wall. The gap runs the whole width of the stairs. That's where the water is percolating up from due to our high water table. When they cut the door opening there is a 6 inch height of the foundation wall still there. The interior door (taken off...

There are actually quite a few differences between mortar and concrete. When you think of cement, you think of those big trucks that keep turning the body. Now if you think of cement as a binder, similar to a recipe with flour, the cement is the flour. The purpose of cement is to hold other materials together. But, you can't use cement alone, you have to use other materials mixed into the cement, such as...

Sometimes, when you have a home for 20 years and have never gotten a crack in the foundation you can get lulled into a false sense of security in thinking you will never have a problem. However, this is not always the case and it seems to happen to people as they are getting ready to sell their house. Some of the reasons why foundations crack after such a long period of time can be...

Most people don't really look at the details of the foundation. Why would the homeowners be concerned about how it looks? Oftentimes when homeowners are selling their house, which is the number one reason, we know a home inspector is going to check the foundation. If they see crumbling concrete or mortar in between the stones or powder on the floor, they know that the mortar needs to be repointed in the basement. The first...

Last week we discussed what a bulkhead is and ways they can leak. This week we can talk about how you go about fixing leaking bulkheads. First you want to go outside and see if the downspouts from your gutters dump the water right where the bulkhead is. If it does, you want to put an extender on it to be sure it runs away from the bulkhead area. Second, you want to see if...

Here in MA, RI, CT and NH, most houses have basements. A bulkhead is usually metal, you can open this door that is on an angle from the outside and then go down some stairs into the basement. When a bulkhead is leaking you'll often see a puddle at the bottom of the stairs in the basement. The puddle is just where the water gathers, that doesn't mean that is where it is leaking. You...

Homeowners are complaining about the rusty things sticking out of their foundation walls. People can get hurt by them and they can let water in. These "rusty things" are called tie rods or snap-ties. They are used during the construction phase. Builders take two pieces of wood and use the rods to separate them, they then pour the concrete between the wood. Once the concrete is dried, they remove the wood and are also supposed...