Reinforcer - Repairing Bowed Basement Wall

[andyh]

Looking at buying a house that has recently installed around the entire basement the Reinforcer carbon fibre/Kevlar strips. The front basement wall is bowed. The original homeowner says the bowing occurred soon after building 18 years ago. It is only the front (long) wall of the basement. All work was done by an authorized and reputable company. The entire basement was also re-pointed.

The basement floor (slab separate from the cinder block wall) has cracked as well. The cracks appear to be very old and there is no displacement.

I've checked every window and door for being square and not binding. Even the basement window is perfect. The lolly columns appear to be in original position holding up 4 2x12 beams tied together. There is no cracking at the base of the lolly columns nor any appearance of movement where they meat the joist.

I've got a home inspector coming in next week. If he hints at any movement of the structure I'll bring in a structural engineer. I can still walk from the house if there are major problems.

Looking for comments on the Reinforcer system as well as any other points you can suggest.

Thanks, Andy

[RickH]

I cant offer much on that system but in the USA right now it's a buyers market, dont be hesitant to move on or get that house at a very low price (if you really want it). There is a glut of unsold homes with no issues at low prices. A block wall basement will never be as good as a poured foundation.

[aemeijers]

Lemme guess- bowing is right under the front porch that runs under living room window? And I thought those surface-applied systems were for earthquake country, not for simple hydrostatic pressure.

Bowed wall indicates wall was improperly engineered and/or perimeter drains are missing, failed, or improperly engineered and/or backfill was done improperly (like before the house was built on top of it.) There is a reason they would put 'kicker' props from the lally column footers over to vertical boards on the wall until the roof was dried in and backfill was in place. (I remember working in a basement on a house under construction once, when wall started moving. Amazing how quick you can climb up a ladder when you are motivated, screaming at the backhoe operator all the way to Shut It The Hell Down NOW!)

Personally, I'd have to see a discount on the price big enough for the likely eventual PROPER repair (Involving jacks and backhoes and masonry contractors), to not walk. (When I was house shopping, I walk on an otherwise interesting house, due to a bowed basement under a frost-heaved porch slab that drained down outside of basement wall.) But if there are no better local options, I would at a minimum get an engineering company in there for an estimate on remediation. Note that it will require a civil engineer that knows dirt and water, to look at the soil and drainage, not just a guy that knows how to repair the building.

aem sends...

[John Grabowski]

With a red flag on the foundation like that I would walk away. I wouldn't care how good the repair patch was. You also need to think in terms of your resale value and the perception this fix would have on future buyers. Tens years from now it may turn out that this Kevlar system was not such a great idea.

[marson]

I don't think you should necessarily walk away from it. But you need to be sure of two things: first, that the movement occured years ago (like after backfill) and you aren't going to be hit with a 50000 bill to fix it sometime down the road and second, that future buyers will be looking for a price discount. Also, forget about adding a second story sometime down the road. I myself bought a house with a cracked foundation. But it was in the right location, my wife loved it, and the price was right.

Don't know anything about the reinforcer system.

[Frank]

Curious because I did some of the early Kevlar R&D work although I'm a chemist, not an engineer:

may hold but I would be concerned that original source of pressure on wall was not removed. Rule of thumb for me would be to find cost of doing the job right, double it, and ask to have deducted from sales price. As others point out, it is a strong buyers market.

Frank