A leak in my Atlanta basement made me stop trusting quick fixes

Last spring, I found water coming through a crack in the foundation wall. I grabbed some hydraulic cement from the hardware store, slapped it on, and called it done. Two weeks later, after more rain, it was leaking worse than before. I had to dig out the whole exterior wall, apply a proper membrane, and backfill with gravel. That one weekend patch job turned into a $1200 project because I didn't fix the root cause. Now I always look for the source, not just the symptom. Has anyone else had a simple repair blow up because of a shortcut?

2 comments

2 Comments

charlie38415d agoMost Upvoted

Ever check your gutters first?

the_joel14d ago

Yeah, that's the kind of lesson that sticks with you. I'm curious, when you finally dug it out, did you find the crack had spread from all the water pressure, or was it just the wrong fix for the type of leak? Charlie384 has a point about gutters, but sometimes it really is just a bad foundation pour that needs more than a band-aid.