Most foundation cracks are not an emergency. Some are. The job is telling which one you have, and that is what the free inspection is for. Crack repair at 603 runs $1,000 to $3,000.
Which cracks should worry you?
Rough guide, and it is a guide, not a diagnosis:
- Thin vertical cracks are the most common thing we see and usually the least alarming. Concrete shrinks as it cures and it has to give somewhere.
- Horizontal cracks are the ones to take seriously. A horizontal crack in a foundation wall can mean the wall is being pushed on from outside.
- Stair-step cracks in block walls follow the mortar joints and can point to movement.
- A crack that is wider at one end than the other suggests something is moving rather than just shrinking.
- Any crack that is actively leaking needs handling regardless of shape, because water gets in and does its own damage.
If you can fit a quarter into it, or it has visibly changed since you first noticed it, call somebody. Us or anyone.
How we fix them
For a non-structural crack that leaks, injection fills the crack through its full depth and seals the path the water was using. For a structural crack, epoxy injection restores the bond across it. Where a wall needs real reinforcement, carbon fiber straps or a power brace do that work, and those are different jobs with their own prices.
What we do not do is smear something on the inside and call it fixed. A surface patch on a leaking crack hides it for a season.
When we tell you not to buy
Sometimes a homeowner is bracing for a full system and what they actually need is one crack filled. When a full system is out of budget, fill the crack and don’t look back. We will tell you when that is the situation, and we would rather do the small job right than talk you into the big one.
The reverse is also true. If you have got water coming in at the floor wall joint all the way around, filling one crack is not going to solve that, and we will say so.
The warranty
Non-structural crack injection carries a 10 year warranty on leakage through the treated area. Structural epoxy injection carries 10 years on the structural bond. Wall stabilization carries 25 years against further inward movement within design tolerances.
Read that first one carefully. Ten years on the crack we treated not leaking is not the same as ten years of a dry basement, because the crack we filled may not be the only way water gets in.
Questions we get
Can I fill it myself from the hardware store?
You can, and for a hairline shrinkage crack that is not leaking it may hold fine. For anything structural or anything wet, a surface product is a temporary measure.
Will it crack again in the same place?
A properly injected crack is not usually the one that comes back. New cracks elsewhere can happen as a house keeps settling.
Do you fix cracks in a slab floor?
We look at them. A floor crack and a wall crack are different problems.
How long does it take?
Most crack repairs are a few hours.
Crack shapes, and what they usually mean
| What the crack looks like | What it usually means | How urgent |
|---|---|---|
| Thin and vertical | Concrete shrinkage as it cured | Usually low. Seal it if it leaks |
| Horizontal across a wall | The wall may be under pressure from outside | Get it looked at |
| Stair-step through block joints | Movement following the mortar | Get it looked at |
| Wider at one end than the other | Something is moving, not just shrinking | Get it looked at |
| Any crack actively leaking | Water has a path in | Handle it regardless of shape |
| Hairline, dry, unchanged for years | Often nothing | Watch it. Note the date |
How the job runs
Somebody looks at the actual crack. Shape, width, whether it is wet, whether it lines up with anything else the house is doing. That is a short visit and it is free, and it is the only honest way to tell a shrinkage crack from something that matters.
You get told which one you have got. If it is the small one, we will say so, and we would rather do the small job right than talk you into a system you do not need yet.
The repair itself is usually a few hours. Injection fills the crack through its full depth rather than skinning over the face of it, which is the difference between a repair and a cosmetic patch that looks fine until the next wet spring.
If the wall needs real reinforcement, that is a different job with its own price and its own timeline, and we will lay that out separately rather than folding it into a crack quote.
Lowell has been managing water since 1941
Lowell sits where the Concord River meets the Merrimack, and the city has spent most of a century dealing with what that means.
The Flood Damage Reduction system was originally constructed in 1941 by the Army Corps of Engineers, built in response to the devastating floods of 1936 and 1938 (City of Lowell). The Merrimack’s flood stage at Lowell is 52 feet, with action at 50, moderate at 54 and major at 58.
The city currently has 9 combined sewer overflow outfalls contributing 330 million gallons of combined sewer to the Merrimack, the Concord and Beaver Brook (Lowell Regional Wastewater Utility).
Where Lowell floods, by the city’s own record
Lowell’s Hazard Mitigation Plan names the places. The Beaver Brook dam area is recorded as “the most common area of flooding.” Townsend Avenue near Pawtucketville, next to Clay Pit Brook, is another. Beaver Brook, Black Brook, Clay Pit Brook and Scarlet Brook are all named perennial streams in the city.
The repetitive-loss figures are the ones worth sitting with: 25 repetitive-loss buildings, 55 losses, $584,907 in repetitive-loss payments, and 245 closed paid claims totalling $4,942,173. Those are properties that have flooded more than once and been paid out more than once.
The layer under your slab
Here is the part that actually explains a lot of wet Lowell basements. The major soil components mapped across the city carry a densic restrictive layer, and the depths are recorded: Paxton at 66 to 71 centimetres, Woodbridge at 76 to 81, Montauk at 87 to 92 (USDA NRCS Soil Data Access, clipped to the Lowell city polygon).
A densic layer is compacted glacial till that water does not readily pass through. Water moving down through the soil reaches it and has to go sideways instead. Where a foundation is in the way of sideways, you get a wet basement, and no amount of sealing the inside of the wall changes where the water is going.
The city’s elevation runs from about 39.5 feet to 313.6 feet, so how that plays out varies a great deal across town.
That is the mapped picture for Lowell as a whole. What is under your house on your street is established by looking, and the look is free.
The rivers, and the gauges that watch them
The Concord River gauge at Lowell sets action stage at 7.5 feet, minor at 8, moderate at 10 and major at 12, with a record crest of 9.74 feet and 5,840 cubic feet per second on 17 March 2010. That March 2010 event appears in the city’s own storm-event record.
Lowell has also put money behind one of its problem watersheds: a $138,000 state Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant in FY21 for the Claypit Brook watershed on the northwestern side of the city.
On geological hazards the city is direct. Its plan states that officials “did not identify any local areas that were previously recorded as being vulnerable to geologic hazards,” and classifies all of Lowell the same way for that risk. So the water story here is a surface-water and soil story, not a bedrock-instability one.
What our customers say
Very knowledgeable and professional to work with. Had a top to bottom ceiling wall crack filled on the 22nd and with heavy rain experienced on the 23rd there was not the slightest drop of water on the basement floor. Job well done!
Joe Lom, Google review, 5 stars
That is one of more than 240 Google reviews. We would rather you read them than take our word for anything on this page.
Related pages for Lowell
- Basement waterproofing in Lowell
- Structural and foundation repair
- Which foundation cracks matter
- Every town we cover
- Who you would actually be dealing with
- Basement waterproofing
- Straight answers to basement questions
Book a free inspection in Lowell
Somebody comes out, looks at the actual space, and tells you straight what it needs and what it does not. You get a written number for a defined scope. No two hour pitch, because we would rather be at the next house.
If you are looking for a team that isn’t going to treat you like another number, we would be happy to give you an estimate free of charge. We don’t cut corners. We stand behind our work. We care.
Call 603-610-1770 or book your free inspection. We cover Lowell and the surrounding towns from our shop in East Kingston, New Hampshire.
Common questions about foundation cracks
- Is it possible to replace a rotten sill plate behind a shower without tearing out the shower?
- Is it possible to sell a home with a costly foundation issue?
- Is it possible to use old mortar for new foundation walls?
- Is it safe to drill into a concrete slab foundation to add new plumbing
- Is this a foundation issue or settling?
- My house seems like it is sinking in one corner; windows and doors started slanting this winter. Is this a thing and can I fix it?
- Should I be worried about basement floor cracks?
- Should I sell a house with cracks in the basement walls and leaking
- We have a horizontal crack in a support beam in the basement. Is it serious?
- We just got a home inspection done and saw some cracks. What do they mean and do we need to fix them?
- What are some ways to fix a sinking foundation of an old house?
- What are the advantages of a helical pile?
Foundation Crack Repair in nearby New England towns
More 603 services in Lowell
- Basement Waterproofing in Lowell, MA
- Basement Finishing in Lowell, MA
- Crawl Space Encapsulation in Lowell, MA
- Radon Mitigation in Lowell, MA
