DIY guideBasement and foundation

Inspect the foundation walls and slab for cracks, and mark them

Walk the basement walls and floor, mark the ends of every crack and photograph it, so next time you can tell whether any has grown.

7 steps

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Pull boxes back from the basement walls. Shine a flashlight along each wall from the side.
Look up and down each wall, round each window and in each corner, for cracks. Thin, straight cracks up and down are common as concrete dries.
Look along the floor's cut lines and across it for cracks, and for any part that has lifted or dropped.
Pencil a short line across each end of every crack, and write the day beside it. Next time, a crack past its line is growing.
Photograph each crack with a coin or a tape measure beside it, close and wide.
Check the marks a few times a year, and after a thaw or heavy rain.
A crack wider than a coin's edge, one that grows past its marks, a stair-step crack in block, a wall that bows or leans, or water coming through: ask Handyman for a foundation pro. That's structural work.

Handyman says: Crack growing? I'll find a pro.

Free for every home. Handyman asks a few questions, then books a pro it trusts.