Comments on: Home Repair Question?

By: EvErY_nA

EvErY_nA — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:30:54 +0000

It might be worth having someone take a look, due to the age of the house, it might be subsidence.
If not, I would get rid of the ants first. You can buy a ant killer from the supermarket, and then just fill in the cracks with cement.
If you can’t have someone take a look right now, take a photo of it and then take another in a month’s time. if there is any change you might need to have someone in to do the work. It can take a month or so to completely get rid of ants anyway, the buggers will keep trying to find places to get in. We had the same problem in our old house, the were coming in under the front door, so we removed the fascia put down loads of ant killer and put it all back, no more ants. though the builders who came in to pull our old house down thought someone had lost a stash of something when the pulled it all down… We moved to the house next door – I really like the area. and we had problems with subsidence in the old place….

By: Papa Joe

Papa Joe — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:59:52 +0000

If the crack isn’t getting any bigger, I’d just slap some cement on it and let it be. Make sure your basement isn’t having moisture problems due to the crack.

By: tropikan

tropikan — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:35:21 +0000

The crack can be patched with a hydraulic cement mixture. This can be found at most home stores and hardware stores and can be bought in large bags or small 15 pound buckets. Follow the directions exactly on preparing the crack, ( dig down to the bottom of the crack, remove all loose material with a chisel or screwdriver and widen as necessary so there is enough space for the product to expand and seal the crack.) You must use a hydraulic cement mixture as this type will expand and force itself into the crack, regular cement or concrete will flake off and not be very effective. Settling can be caused by rain runoff from your roof, be sure you have gutters and the downspouts are draining at least 4 feet from your foundation

By: bluestre

bluestre — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:05:34 +0000

Home depot, buy premixed cement/concrete mix, just add water. Dig down to the bottom of the crack and fill it with the concrete/mortar/cement whatever you want to call it. Old houses do settle. wirthout seeing it I cant tell if something else is causeing this crack, but that is a quick relatively cheap fix. As far as the ants, they dont need a crack in the foundation to get into the house.