I'm looking to buy a house, and it has a patched crack of about 3 or 4 feet in the cement wall in an unfinished part of the basement. It looks like it was patched at least from the inside and it has tie rods going in at a 45-degree angle. I would like to know how much confidence I can put into this patch. I have heard that it was done to keep the water seepage out and that there have been no problems since. Should I worry about this patch affecting the stability of the house? Do I have to reinforce or replace the patch every once in a while?
Answer:
The age of the house becomes quite important here and so does the method of patching. If those patches are just a masonry product, they don't do a whole lot of good but if they happen to be a form of epoxy injection, they'll hold.
