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Foundation Cross-ties----Water in the Crawl Space

By
Home Inspector with Charles Buell Inspections Inc.

     There are many ways that water finds its way into crawl spaces.  One of those ways is through the old form "cross-ties" installed when the foundation was originally "mono-poured" (the footing and the wall are all poured at the same time).  This method of construction requires that wood boards be placed across the footing boards and then the wall forms are built on top of these cross-ties.  After the concrete is poured the forms are taken off and the cross-ties remain.  Over time they rot away.  This rotting/missing wood is a great way for wood destroying organisms and water to find their way into the crawl space. Properly cleaning and filling these openings is necessary to reduce this means of water infiltration.  There are "expansive" concrete patching materials ideal for this purpose available at masonry supply stores.  Remember, crawl spaces are not very often "friendly" places and great care must be taken for the personal safety of anyone making repairs in a crawl space.

     In the first two pictures we can clearly see water running into the crawl space through the rotted away form-ties.form tie holeForm tie hole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      This next picture shows a "dry" and missing form-tie with staining from past water infiltration.  One thing you can be sure of is that if the form tie is missing ---it is missing for a reason: rot/decay/water. (The bolt to the right is for some seismic retrofitting that has been done---subject of a future blog)dry form tie hole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Buell

www.buellinspections.com

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