Concrete Solutions & Waterproofing repairs cracked, leaking and deteriorated foundations in Eastern Massachusetts: crack injection from inside the basement, excavating and sealing cracks from outside, repointing fieldstone and block walls, patching voids and openings, and pouring new concrete piers and footings. We look at the wall first and tell you which repair it actually needs.
Free written estimates. Licensed and insured. Standard 1-year warranty.
Most cracks in Massachusetts foundations are not structural. Thin vertical cracks in a poured wall are usually shrinkage and matter because they leak. Horizontal cracks, stair-step cracks in block, cracks wider at one end, and walls that bow or lean are the ones that need a closer look.
| What you see | What it usually means | Usual repair |
|---|---|---|
| Thin vertical crack in a poured wall, often near a window or corner | Shrinkage as the concrete cured. Not structural, but a common leak path | Crack injection from inside |
| Crack about 1/8 inch or wider, or one that was patched and opened again | Movement after the pour. Worth checking whether it is still moving | Structural epoxy injection, or an engineer's review first |
| Stair-step crack along the mortar joints of a block wall | Settlement or pressure on the wall | Mortar and block repair once the cause is understood |
| Horizontal crack, or a wall that bows or leans inward | Soil or frost pressure pushing on the wall | Engineer's evaluation before any repair |
| Sand on the floor, loose stones, missing mortar in a stone foundation | Old lime mortar washing out of a fieldstone wall | Fieldstone repointing |
| Crumbling concrete, gaps or holes at the base of the wall or the sill | Water and freeze-thaw damage over time | Clean back to sound concrete and rebuild with repair mortar |
Send a photo with a coin or tape measure against the crack. We can usually tell from that whether it is a water problem, a masonry problem, or something an engineer should see first.
From the inside, by injecting resin through the full thickness of the wall: rigid epoxy for dry cracks that need strength back, flexible polyurethane for cracks that leak. When the inside is finished or blocked, we dig down outside and seal the crack from the exterior.
When an engineer has already inspected the house, we follow the report. Structural epoxy injection is commonly specified to ACI 224.1R, the American Concrete Institute guide to crack repair, and we price and perform the work to that spec.
Outside repair. Where a crack cannot be reached from inside, for example behind a finished wall or at a condo unit, we hand excavate along the crack below grade, clean it, fill it with hydraulic cement above and below grade, then backfill, compact and restore the mulch or lawn. See foundation crack injection for more on resin choice.
Older homes across the South Shore sit on fieldstone foundations laid in lime mortar that washes out over decades. The fix is repointing: raking out the failed mortar and packing the joints full depth with new mortar, resetting loose stones as we go.
Mortar work needs temperatures above 40 degrees, so exterior repointing is best scheduled before deep winter. Interior basement work can usually continue through the cold months. More detail on fieldstone and cobblestone basement repair and repointing.
Damaged sections of block walls, holes and gaps at the base of the wall, and crumbling concrete are cut back to sound material and rebuilt with non-shrink or structural repair mortar, tooled to shed water.
Common repairs we do on foundation walls besides cracks:
Decks, porches and additions that are settling or being rebuilt often need new concrete piers or footings. We excavate, form and pour them at frost depth or down to ledge, finished level to receive the post bases.
Footings and piers for decks and additions usually need a building permit and often an engineer's design. Each town page lists the local building department.
Call an engineer before any repair when a wall is bowing or leaning, has a horizontal crack, or has cracks that keep growing. The engineer decides what the wall needs; we then do the concrete and masonry work the report calls for.
We do not provide structural engineering, and we do not install wall anchors, wall bracing or underpinning systems. What we do is read an engineer's report, price exactly what it calls for, and do the concrete and masonry repair: injection, patching, repointing, new footings and piers. If we see a sign on the first visit that the wall needs an engineer, we tell you before quoting anything.
Condo associations and property managers often already have an engineer's report or a work order. Send it with the request and we can usually price from it before visiting.
A lot of foundation damage in Massachusetts starts with water: downspouts dumping at the wall, driveways and walks pitched toward the house, and frost working into wet joints. Fixing the water is often the cheapest part of the repair.
We would rather fix the surface water and repoint the wall than sell you a full waterproofing system the house does not need.
It depends on the type of repair, how much wall is involved, and whether we can work from inside or have to dig outside. Small crack and patch repairs are usually one working day; full repointing of a basement is several days. Every estimate is written and itemized.
| Work | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Interior crack injection | About $750 to $2,100 per job | Most single-crack and two-crack jobs; more and longer cracks cost more |
| Outside excavate-and-seal crack | About $1,300 to $1,750 per crack | Hand dig to about 2 feet; deeper digs, ledge or membrane cost more |
| Foundation repointing | About $11 to $28 per square foot of wall | Fieldstone and brick, inside or outside; small patches carry a minimum charge |
| Interior wall coating or parging | About $4 to $11.50 per square foot | Higher end is stone-wall slurry and membranes |
Ranges come from our own written proposals for Eastern Massachusetts jobs in 2025 and 2026. They are a guide, not a quote: your price depends on what we find on site.
The main things that move the price:
Pricing from photos is possible for simple repairs. If what we find on site is different, we review the change with you before doing anything.
Our office is in Braintree, and we repair foundations for homeowners, condo associations and property managers across the South Shore, Norfolk County and south toward Plymouth and Bristol counties. Pick your town for recent nearby jobs, local housing age and the building department contact. Our office is at 150 Grossman Drive, Suite 205, Braintree, MA 02184.
Tell us about the project and where it is. We respond within one business day.