Foundation Wall Repair in Philadelphia: Fixing Old Basement Walls
Sand piling up along the bottom of your basement wall is the wall wearing away. It won't stop on its own.
If you own a rowhome or twin in Philadelphia, your foundation is probably older than anybody who ever lived in the house. Fieldstone, old brick, sometimes both in the same wall. It's held the house up for 80 to 120 years. It still needs work now and then.
We're Dependable Concrete LLC, a family-owned crew doing foundation wall repair in Philadelphia since 1984. Here's what we look for, what the repair involves, and how to tell if your walls need it now or can wait a while.
Short answer: Most of the foundation wall problems we see in Philly basements are the face and joints breaking down. The house isn't coming down. Loose stone, sandy joints, peeling coating, damp spots, small cracks. Catch it early and the fix is a cleanup, a solid repair of the wall face and a new cement coat. Let it go and it turns into a bigger, wetter job.
What's Going On With Your Basement Walls
Old Philly foundations were laid up with lime mortar. That was the right call back then, but lime mortar slowly turns back into sand. Give it a hundred years of wet ground on the other side, a lot of freeze and thaw, and every plumber and electrician who ever knocked a hole through for a pipe, and the wall face starts to go.
Here's what that looks like:
- Sand on the floor along the wall. The joints are wearing out.
- Stones or bricks you can wiggle. Not good, but very fixable if you get to it.
- Old coating coming off in sheets. Paint or an old cement coat that lost its grip.
- White, chalky powder. Minerals left behind when water moves through the wall.
- Dark, damp patches after rain or when the snow melts.
- Holes around pipes and wires. Mice love these.
Most basements we walk into have at least three of these.
When Should You Worry?
Most of this happens slow. A sandy wall isn't going to fail next week. Get somebody out sooner if you see any of this:
- A crack that's new, getting wider, or letting water in
- Stones that have actually fallen out
- A section of wall that looks out of line with the rest
- Water on the floor every time it rains
Call us and we'll come look. If it turns out to be something we don't do, we'll tell you that straight.
How We Repair Foundation Walls
Every wall's a little different. Most jobs go like this:
- Look first. We walk the basement with you, check every wall, tap for hollow spots and figure out where the water's coming from.
- Clear and clean. Loose material comes off. Failing coating, dust, crumbled joints. New cement over a wall that's falling apart underneath won't hold.
- Repair the wall face. Loose stones get reset and voids get filled solid with cement so the wall works as one piece again.
- Seal around pipes and openings. Every gap around a pipe or wire gets packed. That does a lot to keep mice out, and people are surprised how much.
- New cement coat. We trowel a full coat over the wall and sponge finish it smooth, gray and even. Once it cures it's ready for paint or a sealer.
- Clean up. We leave the basement swept and ready to use.
One more thing about how we work: we mix our own concrete. We run our own silo and mixers, so we control the strength of every batch and can add fiber when the job calls for it.
The video below shows our crew on a Philly cellar wall. Rough old wall, holes around the pipes, then the cement going on and the sponge finish behind the pipes, where a lot of people skip.
Video transcript
This is a cellar wall job that is badly in need of repair. When we cement the walls we make sure that we get behind all the pipes, and this way what happens is it will help to prevent rodents from entering into the basement. These are the finished walls. We are sponge finishing the walls so that the walls will be smooth and ready for painting or sealing. We also spent a great deal of effort cementing and sponging behind obstacles like this pipe. End card: Dependable Concrete LLC, doing concrete in Philadelphia since 1984. Your written estimate within 24 hours of our visit. dependableconcrete.com, 215-821-9779, Book a free estimate.
Why Not Just Paint It?
We hear this a lot. Waterproof paint on a crumbling wall is a new shirt over a wet one. Looks better for a season. Then the wall keeps breaking down behind it, the paint bubbles and peels, and now there's one more layer to scrape off before anybody can fix it right.
Paint's fine as the last step. Just not the only one.
Can This Be Done in Winter?
Yes. This work happens inside the house, so the cold outside doesn't stop us. Winter's actually a good time for it. Freeze and thaw and snow melt hit weak walls the hardest, and if it's done before spring you're not mopping in March.
What Does It Cost?
Depends on the basement. Here's what moves the number:
- How much wall. One bad corner is a different job than all four walls.
- Condition. A wall that just needs a new coat costs less than one with loose stone to reset first.
- What's in the way. Shelving, finished walls, oil tanks, washers and a lot of pipes all add time.
- Water. If it's coming in, we have to handle that too.
We won't throw out a number over the phone. It'd be a guess. We come out, look at the walls and put it in writing. Your written estimate within 24 hours of our visit. No charge for the visit.
Working Across Philadelphia
Our shop is at 7715 Crittenden St in Chestnut Hill. We work in basements in Mt. Airy, Germantown, Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls, West Philadelphia, Center City, South Philly, Fairmount and Northeast Philly, plus Cheltenham, Glenside, Wyncote, Abington and Jenkintown. A lot of these houses went up around the same time on the same kind of foundation, so we've seen most of what your walls can do.
Got a party wall? We'll talk that through too. In a rowhome, what happens on your neighbor's side can show up on yours.
Related Reading
Want more? Read our guides on parging basement walls and cracked basement walls, or see our basement wall repair page.
Get Your Walls Looked At
Dependable Concrete LLC is family-owned and has been doing concrete and basement work in Philadelphia since 1984. We're open 7 days a week, 7 AM to 7 PM, and we call back.
Dependable Concrete LLC
7715 Crittenden St, Philadelphia PA 19118
215-821-9779
https://dependableconcrete.com
Your written estimate within 24 hours of our visit.
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