Crack Repair · Ambler & Montgomery County
First, An Honest Answer About The Crack
Most foundation cracks are not emergencies — and someone should be willing to tell you that. Some are cosmetic, some let water in, and a few genuinely mean movement. Dean looks first, explains which kind you have, and only then talks about fixing it.
Foundation crack repair starts with diagnosis: hairline shrinkage cracks are often cosmetic, cracks that leak need sealing along the water path, and wide, growing or horizontal cracks warrant structural attention. Dry Basements By Dean assesses cracks free of charge for homeowners across Ambler and Montgomery County, PA.
Warning Signs
When A Crack Is Worth A Look
- ▸It leaks — damp streaks or drips during rain, even if it's thin
- ▸It's getting longer or wider (pencil marks and dates on the wall will tell you)
- ▸It runs horizontally, or stair-steps through block mortar joints
- ▸The crack is wide enough to slide a coin into
- ▸Doors or windows above have started to stick since it appeared
Our Process
How Dean Handles Cracks
Diagnose Before Anything
Direction, width, wall type, and whether water is moving through it. A vertical hairline in poured concrete and a horizontal crack in block are entirely different conversations — you'll know which you're in before any price appears.
Seal The Water Path
Leaking cracks are sealed so water stops moving through the wall — matched to the material, since stone-and-mortar joints and block walls each fail their own way.
Tell The Truth About The Rest
If the crack is cosmetic, Dean says so and you keep your money. If it signals something structural, he says that too, plainly, with what it means and what it needs.
The Local Picture
Cracks In This Area's Foundations
Montgomery County's freeze–thaw winters are a crack's best friend. Water gets into a hairline gap, freezes, expands, and works it open a little more each cycle — which is why a crack you first noticed years ago slowly grows, and why sealing the water path matters beyond the leak itself.
The wall type sets the pattern. The borough's older stone foundations rarely 'crack' — they open along mortar joints and weep. The block walls of the postwar townships crack along mortar beds and, under enough soil pressure, horizontally — the one pattern that always deserves prompt attention. Poured walls in newer homes mostly show vertical shrinkage cracks, the most benign of the family.
The useful thing to remember: the free look costs nothing, and the peace of mind runs in both directions. Plenty of Dean's crack calls end with 'that's nothing to worry about' — which is exactly what you want to be told when it's true.
Dry Basements for Ambler & Montgomery County
Straight Answers
Crack Questions
Is my foundation crack serious?
Direction and width tell most of the story: vertical hairlines are usually benign, leaking cracks need sealing, and horizontal or widening cracks deserve prompt attention. The only real answer comes from looking — which Dean does for free.
Can I just use hardware-store epoxy?
On a dry, stable hairline, a DIY kit can hold. On anything leaking or moving it usually fails, because the water path and the pressure behind it are still there. If a cheap fix is genuinely enough, Dean will tell you that.
Do stone foundations crack?
They tend to open at mortar joints and weep rather than crack like concrete. Repointing and sealing the water path is the usual work on Ambler's older stone walls — different from block repair, and routine here.
Will the crack come back after repair?
A properly sealed crack shouldn't reopen — but if the pressure that caused it is still there, the honest fix often pairs sealing with drainage that relieves the pressure. That's a judgment call Dean makes in front of the wall, not from a script.
What if it really is structural?
Then you'll be told plainly what's happening and what it needs. No scare tactics — a homeowner with a real structural issue needs clear information, not pressure.
Get The Crack Looked At
Send a photo or just describe it — Dean will come out, tell you what kind of crack you actually have, and what (if anything) it needs. Free, either way.
Or call (215) 206-8678