Vertical crack in foundation - DIY injection epoxy vs. simpler options

I noticed some water got through this crack for the first time during a heavy rainstorm. I'd like to fix it up.

I was planning on trying the epoxy injection method, using this kit.

A friend of mine, whose opinion is generally sound, thought this was overkill.. Do you agree with him? Or would you use the injection kit?

I am not sure what he would use but he said there are products for hairline cracks like this that don't require chiselling the wall.

 

I guess the kit I quoted is part 1 of 3, and I've read some not so great reviews. I guess I would be looking at considerably more, something like this or something like Sika would work too.

 

A water leak needs to be fixed from the outside. First I would try the usual easy stuff. Make sure you have working gutters and downspouts and that they direct water well away from the house. Make sure the ground around the house directs all water at least 10 feet away.

If that doesn't stop the water you should excavate outside and stop the water before it enters your foundation/basement wall instead of trying to stop it with something on the inside. This might involve installing a foundation perimeter drain. Putting a waterproofing membrane on the exterior of the basement wall and a weeping mat or gravel layer to allow ground water to easily percolate down to the drain system.

 

Pilot Dane, you are a legend around here! I’ve had you reply to nearly every thread I made, with good advice!

it supposed to rain on and off for at least the next week. After that I can excavate that area by hand - luckily I already had a gas line locate in this area a month ago.

cracks like this aren’t immediate threats, correct? I could wait until a sunny day later in September? It rained this morning and no moisture came in so I am think only very heavy rains must affect it.

 

Does water enter every time it rains or just in a heavy prolong rain? If you don't want to go through the expense and time to fix it from the outside (and at below ground level) you could just chisel out a groove along the crack on the inside and then chisel out a small trough on the floor and drill a holes through to the stone. You can also insert a tube or even a string in the groove going down to the drilled hole and then cement patch over it
It will then seek its way to your sump pit. I did this on several minor cracks and never worried about it since.

 

Norm201 In the 2+ years since we moved in, this is the first time it's leaked. It's always been there. We had the remnants of a tropical storm come through and got an exceptional amount of rain in a short period the day we found water. I would guess about 50ml of water got inside to the floor overall. A few paper towels was enough to clean it up. However, I am guessing moving water will only widen the gap - question is, how quickly? Do I have days or months?

We're in a tough spot, because we are planning to sell in a year or two for a quieter area(developers buying all the houses around us to turn into multi family rental units) and I don't want to put a huge investment into fixing this. We've already spent close to $10k CAD fixing issues the previous homeowner neglected and it's left us tighter than expected. We have another 15k or so to get other poorly done cosmetic renos to fixed up properly.

This is why we will need to try out best to resolve this without professionals, if we can.

 

Concrete cracks. I tend to worry less about basement wall/foundation cracks that are mostly vertical and relatively small like yours.

If it hasn't leaked previously I might consider not doing anything major. Make sure the surface water outside is kept away. I'm on the fence for attempting to repair the crack. If there is an inspection when you sell the house the crack should be noted in the report. An amateur repair or a repair that cracks or fails might seem worse. A crack with no signs of water ingress could be noted more as a standard, non-structural crack.

 

One easy way to reduce or almost negate water if it's minor, is to make sure the outside land is sloped away from the foundation. If that means a load of top soil to bank the land about 5 degrees away is worth it.