Shooting yourself in the foot means your solution is not a solution at all. It's a ridiculous merry go round where one ends up in exactly the same place.
On a recent home inspection while examining a block foundation wall I noticed step cracking. Common and usually not monumentally concerning. However foundation wall cracks bear close scrutiny. Moving down the wall I noticed horizontal cracking, this on the other hand is usually a major concern.
Two things I noted on the outside, actually three, made me believe this crack was not a major structural issue....yet. The conditions I observed were conspiring to continue to make the cracks larger, which in time would compromise the foundation.
The first was the gutter downspout at the corner of this wall where the crack was the largest. As one can see the down spout is pouring all the water collected from the roof by the gutter right at this cracked corner. There was a neat little gully formed by the rushing water under the spout.
Just around the corner was a small PVC pipe protruding from the foundation wall. Below and just in front of the pipe was also a gully formed by rushing water from the sump pump at the other end of the pipe. I like to call this redirection. The water from the roof finds its way into the sump, it is then expelled outside again to once more return to the sump.
Remember that merry go round?
All the water that has been collecting and recirculating at this point over the years has weakened the base of the foundation wall causing it to settle and crack. The wall will continue on its way down unless the water is sent away from the house.
The third thing that made the horizontal crack not a major structural concern was that the foundation wall was almost two feet above grade. The crack was located about a foot or less below grade. While it could leak, there is little chance the soil can exert enough pressure at this point to push the wall inwards.
The most important first step in resolving the wall issue is to correct the drainage. As is the case most often with houses, it's not what is the perceived problem, but the water.
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