Foundation mortar failure

I have noticed two small areas on my cement block basement wall that are showing signs of water infiltration. When I inspected the exterior of the basement wall, I noticed two corresponding holes in the mortar, just above ground level. Using a screwdriver, I poked at the mortar and I removed about a 2" section of crumbling material. The wall itself is in otherwise good condition. It was built in 1950, but this is my first year in the house. It is my theory that the 3 foot tall snowbank piled up against my foundation from my next door neighbors driveway melts and then runs into the holes which in turn seeps out into my basement.

Long story short, I obviously need to fill these holes. I thought that the material used as brick mortar should be of a softer consistency than that of the cement block. What material should I use?

-- David P. Feyen Reply to: dfeyen at wi dot rr dot com =================================================== This life is a test. It is only a test. Had this been an actual life, you would have received instructions on what to do and where to go. ===================================================

I'll let the trade guys around here address what you might use to deal with the hole, but generally speaking as a plain regular homeowner guy and if I had the same problem, I'd start looking a bit more big-picture at the situation at hand. First, I'd be looking at why those holes ended up there in the first place, and then having that wall checked for more and possibly hidden disintegration than what you're seeing before you -- ESPECIALLY in the case of hollow concrete block as opposed to solid brick. If you were able to easily poke a 2" hole into the wall with a screwdriver, rest assured that nature will eventually do it for you (and often bigger) with its own little screwdriver, and neither the result nor the repair will be pretty. Nor will it be cheap because by then, you'll probably have bigger problems.

On the bright side, you're probably just in line for simply fixing what someone else screwed up before you bought the place, and it'll just end up being a case of an ounce of prevention eliminating a pound of cure later on down the road. You can DIY it and plug up the hole yourself, but if it were me, I'd be continually nagged over whether any hidden damage is lurking to bite me in the ass good and hard later, or even whether what I did -- and how I did it without personal pro supervision

-- is the best cure for that problem.

As with any DIY project, it's your house and your funeral. Do whatever you wish.

AJS