Waterproof paint is not what you want to use to fix basement cracks. But in this episode, we are going to discuss the pros and cons of waterproof paint. Let’s get started with the pros; when would you use waterproof paint? I would use waterproofing paint if I was selling a house, putting it right on the market, because it does look nice. It also reduces the smell of the basement. Also, the do-it-yourselfer can...

Even though it is a drought here in Massachusetts, we got a call from a homeowner in Dedham. Water was coming into her house through the basement wall at a pretty good rate. She had ServPro there, a company that cleans up after disasters and water problems. I spoke to them on the phone, and they told us water was coming in fast from a tie-rod and behind shelving in the basement. I told them...

We got a telephone call from a gentleman over in Bolton, MA who had a house built in the 1800. He had some fear in his voice, his wife really wanted to get rid of these mice. They were tired of regularly having an exterminator come in to get rid of the mice. The exterminator actually suggested to him that he have someone come in and take care of the basement. There were holes in...

Flex Seal is the stuff you see on TV where the guy replaces a screen with the bottom of a boat, sprays this on and sails away. Well, maybe it works on the bottom of a boat, but we've been seeing for a few years, homeowners putting this on basement cracks and then the cracks leak. A new product that they have comes in a 1 gallon and 5 gallon containers. It's rolled onto the...

Real Estate Radio Boston would like to extend a warm thanks to A1 Foundation for making it out to the Millennium Tower networking event. We hope you had as much fun as we did. We are proud to announce that A1 Foundation is a supporter of Real Estate Radio Boston's! A1 Foundation and Crack Repair has been fixing Bostonian's basements around the city since 1993.. We hope to see you at the next Real Estate...

Q. The other day I was in my basement and noticed a gap between the basement wall and the floor. What would cause that and do I need to worry about it? A. Well, what would cause this is they pour concrete to make the floor. The concrete has quite a bit of water in it. As it dries, the water evaporates causing "concrete shrinkage". This causes the gap which could be as thin as...

So you’re considering refinishing the basement to increase the value of your home before you sell it. Is it worth the hassle and money? It is definitely going to increase the value of your home. The question is, for every dollar you spend how much are you going to get back when you sell? We did some research and talked to appraisers and realtors. We found that 70% of what you spend on refinishing the...

   We actually ran into a situation where someone was trying to dig out a crawl space to turn it into a regular sized basement. A homeowner called me in a panic. They had hired a company to dig out his crawl space and he came home and saw this situation where they had dug into the soil and the soil was unstable. He was afraid his house was going to fall down. He was...

We get this question every once in awhile, or we get a seller who wants to save some money until after they sell the house. What happens is, people can love a house, they go downstairs, see a crack in the foundation wall and run to the next house because they are afraid of the crack and they don’t want any problems even though the crack can be repaired with a full warranty that is...

We had a call from a condominium association member who has water in the parking garage.  I asked if it was just puddles, she said “yes”; I asked if it only happened in the warm weather, she said “yes”.  I told her that they probably have condensation. They did the condensation test that we had spoken about in the last podcast. Lo and behold, it was condensation and they have had hundreds of companies out...