Foundation Crack Injection in Chilliwack, BC

How Polyurethane and Epoxy Crack Injection Works

Every injection repair starts the same way, whether we're using polyurethane or epoxy. We clean the crack surface, then seal it with a fast-setting epoxy paste along its full length. Small plastic injection ports go into that paste every 6 to 8 inches, angled to intersect the crack partway through the wall thickness, not only at the surface.

With polyurethane, we inject a two-component resin starting at the lowest port and working upward, watching for resin to appear at the port directly above before capping it and moving on. The resin reacts with moisture in the crack and expands, filling the full depth of the void rather than the visible surface line, and forming a flexible, watertight seal. Cure time is fast: most cracks are ready to walk away from within a couple of hours.

Epoxy injection uses the same port setup but a different resin. Epoxy doesn't expand. It's a low-viscosity adhesive that flows into the crack under pressure and cures rigid, welding the two faces of concrete back into one solid piece. It needs a dry crack to bond properly, so we won't recommend epoxy for anything actively leaking. Once cured, the ports are ground flush and the wall surface is left smooth.

Choosing the Right Material for Your Crack

The material has to match the crack, not the other way around. Get this wrong and the repair fails, often within a year, which is the most common reason DIY crack injection kits come back to us as a second, more expensive job.

Polyurethane is the right call for any crack that's wet, actively leaking, or likely to see moisture again, along with cracks in walls that see minor seasonal movement, since its flexibility lets it move slightly with the concrete without breaking the seal. Epoxy is the right call for dry, structural cracks where the goal is restoring the wall's original strength, typically in poured concrete foundations with a clean, stable crack and no active water.

Cracks wider than about 3mm, or in a wall showing any sign of bowing or lateral displacement, need a closer look before injection. Injection seals a crack; it doesn't stop a wall from continuing to move. If the crack is a symptom of ongoing lateral soil pressure rather than a one-time settlement event, we'll flag that during the inspection rather than injecting a crack that's likely to reopen.

Cost and Timeline for Crack Injection in Chilliwack

Crack injection is priced per crack, and the two materials land in a similar range. Polyurethane injection typically runs $600 to $1,000 per crack; epoxy injection typically runs $600 to $1,500 per crack, with the higher end reflecting cracks that are deeper, harder to access, or longer than a standard wall crack. Most Chilliwack homes we inspect need one to three cracks addressed, and we offer volume pricing when more than one is done in the same visit.

A few factors move the number: how deep the crack runs through the wall, whether finished drywall or built-in shelving is in the way, and how close a fall or winter freeze-thaw cycle is. None of that changes the process itself, just the labour and access involved.

Most interior injections take 2 to 4 hours for one to three cracks, with no cure-time wait before you can use the space again. We give you a firm, written number after the free on-site inspection, not a phone estimate, because crack depth and accessibility aren't something we can judge accurately without seeing the wall.

How Long an Injected Crack Repair Holds Up

A correctly matched injection, polyurethane for a wet crack, epoxy for a dry structural one, is built to be a permanent seal rather than a temporary patch. The resin bonds into the full depth of the crack instead of sitting on the surface, which is why it holds up differently than a surface sealant or hydraulic cement smeared over the outside.

The repairs that fail are almost always the ones where the underlying cause wasn't addressed. If a crack keeps reopening because the wall is bowing inward from soil pressure, injection will keep failing at the same spot until the wall itself is stabilized. If water is getting in through multiple points rather than one isolated crack, that's usually a sign the foundation needs a broader waterproofing solution rather than repeated spot injections. Part of every inspection is telling you plainly which situation you're in before we quote a repair that won't hold.