The Crackman Podcast

On the 14th hole of a local golf course, a house is being built on the side of a hill. The street level is even with the top of the second story, just to give you an idea of the slope. That could be a problem if the builders don’t figure out a way to divert the water run-off. Adam explains the ramifications of poor landscape design when it comes to foundations.

Modern homes are extremely efficient but many people own very old homes. A gaping hole in the foundation can make it costly to heat or cool. The Crack Daddy explains how to make an older home with a fieldstone foundation more energy efficient.

A moldy basement won't pass most home inspections and it certainly won’t pass the smell test. In this episode, Adam shares a case study on how a moldy basement can easily tank a home sale.

When a homeowner thinks about home improvements, they normal consider the aesthetics of the improvement. But that might be putting the cart before the horse if you have topographical issues that can adversely affect the very foundation of your house. The CrackDaddy explains.

The Crackman got a call from a customer who had a typical wall crack–one that is vertical in nature and sort of meanders with no defined pattern, but that’s not where it was leaking. Instead, the water was coming from where the floor and wall meet at the seam. How does that happen?

If you put a jar of turkey stock in the freezer after Thanksgiving and make the mistake of overfilling the jar, the jar will break. So, could the same thing happen to a basement if you have a water leak and a hard freeze?

Well, listeners...today is milestone day as this is our 300th episode of the Crackman podcast. During these 300 episodes, we have covered in great detail how FlexSeal does an exceedingly poor job of stopping basement water leaks for the long term. So how about this...what if you paint the leaking area with waterproofing paint first and THEN apply the FlexSeal? It’s like double the protection, righ...

During the torrential rains of late summer and early fall, A1 Foundation Crack Repair was absolutely slammed with work fixing basement water problems. But it’s been relatively dry for the last month, so why would water still be flooding certain basements?

Bulkheads are an integral part of the foundation and basement. A1 Foundation Crack Repair gets a lot of calls about them, especially when they are leaking. The Crack Daddy covers this topic in detail.

Some cracks are pretty easy to identify due to their meandering, spidering appearance. But straight, horizontal cracks are something else entirely. In this episode, Adam, talks about these manmade horizontal cracks, or expansion joints, and how and when to fix them.

Winter is fast approaching, believe it or not. In this episode, The Crackdaddy gives an important tip to keep your foundation in check during the freezing temperatures.

There are better ways to wake up than to walk downstairs and find standing water in your basement. The initial steps are common. Step #1: issue a heavy stream of vulgarities. Step #2, beg forgiveness for your verbal transgressions. Step #3: ask, “What do I do to fix this?” In this episode, Adam talks about Step #3.

Most people know that concrete doesn’t cure in the freezing weather. If someone needs to effect some concrete repairs in their basement, do they need to wait for warmer weather to get them fixed? Adam Tracy explains.

Lally columns are pretty important to a home. In this episode, the Crackman explains what a lally column is, why it would start rusting, and what can happen if you don’t deal with it.

The Crackman has been getting a lot of calls from homeowners complaining about basement utility rooms leaks. What could be causing that? The Crackman explains.

Adam, the Crackdaddy, and the Crackman have been fixing the basement water problems of other people for many, many years. In this episode, Adam recounts a story where he turned himself into a customer.

The CrackDaddy and his "crack" team of water remediation experts do a lot of repairs on old homes, especially stone foundations, but with newer construction, homeowners get to enjoy a pristine basement for a number of years before they end up with basement water issues. That's why it can be quite horrifying when a basement water leak happens the first time.

The news out of Miami is horrifying and it sounds like the foundation was the primary culprit. The Crackman discusses the large influx of calls from people worried about their foundation doing the same thing.

There is a certain amount of sleuthing that goes on when diagnosing a basement water problem. Sometimes a homeowner reports one thing but the investigation finds something completely different. In this episode, Adam explains how a basement water problem might seem like a broken pipe when, in fact, it is something else entirely.

If a homeowner is a stickler for aesthetics, one might imagine they may have an issue with little pieces of metal sticking out of their foundation wall, but is there a more insidious reason why they might be concerned about this phenomenon? The Crackman answers.

This time of year we tend to get a lot of torrential downpours. If you have a leaky basement window, you’re gonna know about it pretty quickly. In this episode, The Crackman explains how to fix a leaky basement window.

A1 Foundation Crack Repair has fixed a lot of interesting problems over the years but they were recently hired to fix a serious swimming pool issue. Listen to this fascinating story now.

In his 25 years as the Crackman, Rich Comeras has seen many DIY jobs gone bad. But he's also seen professional repair jobs gone bad, as well. In this episode, Rich explains a story that illustrates how A1 Foundation Crack Repair often feels like a life raft for desperate homeowners, shipwrecked by a crippling basement water problem.

When the mortar holding a stone foundation starts to crumble, it might be time to repoint it. We’ve talked about it in a lot of previous podcasts but what if a homeowner decides to be complacent and not fix their stone foundation? What are some of the ramifications of that bad decision? The Crackman explains.

Not all foundations are created equally and as A1’s Civil Engineer, Adam Tracy has seen some bad ones . In this episode, Adam shares a cautionary tale with our listeners about a crumbling foundation.