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Hello I recently bought a house a year ago and didn’t really pay attention to much to little things around it.

I did get it inspected.

A month ago the basement flooded due to a busted sump pump so got a new one installed.

After that I took a look around the basement and noticed this crack on the wall.

Section of wall showing completely vertical crack through brick

Now we had some bad weather the past month, a lot of rain, a lot of snow, and a lot of freezing snow. Then random 60 degree days.

I cannot tell if this crack is serious and if it’s a structural issue or not. Problem is half the basement is finished so I can only see about 500 sq/ft of the brick walls. The basement walls are standard poured concrete, and this is a brick veneer for decoration only.

I will say this is the only crack I see. I looked every else even outside and don’t see any other crack like this.

There is also no moisture here either and I can’t even fit a quarter through it.

Not sure what to do here.

This house was built in 2004 also so would be really shocked if this is a serious structural issue.

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    Brick seems odd as a basement foundation wall. Imagine it is decorative cover over a cement wall. If you check the outside carefully where that crack is, and see no crack, then do not think it is structural matter of the foundation wall. Floor maybe, but probably just for the bricks.
    – crip659
    Commented Mar 13, 2022 at 22:40
  • Hey sorry forgot to add, my basement is poured walls. That brick is just decoration.
    – My Name
    Commented Mar 13, 2022 at 22:58
  • With a poured wall I would not be stressing there may be a joint or a change in thickness and those are places that do get straight cracks, I recommend taking photos with a tape measure on the crack then check it again in 1 year or 5 years no change no worries.
    – Ed Beal
    Commented Mar 13, 2022 at 23:27
  • Perfect thank you. Is this something you think I should still get patched up? I will say after taking a closer look right above this area seems to be the sliding door for my back patio. Not sure if that plays a role.
    – My Name
    Commented Mar 13, 2022 at 23:41
  • The fact that the crack is almost perfectly vertical, running through the middle of bricks as well as mortar joints makes me think this is just a thin "brick look" veneer panel, and that this is likely a joint between panels coming open. Especially since it's on a standard poured concrete foundation wall.
    – FreeMan
    Commented Mar 14, 2022 at 11:50

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I am not an expert, but I am an engineer and son of an architect. I have the exact same poured basement foundation walls, even with the same pattern. My house was built in 1979. I had a basement waterproofing company inspect my basement and they agreed that they are not structural; rather shrinkage cracks or cracks between pouring of the panels. When the ground is super saturated, I get major leaking in all these cracks. I am in the process of injecting them with expanding foam built for this exact issue. You can find more information on how to do this on the web. It is a DIY project.

Remember that your walls have rebar in them for strength. I believe that the only cracks that are worrisome are multiple diagonal cracks that approach each other, as that would create an entire segment of the wall that could then be subject to water pressure forces.

If you are finishing your basement (as seen by the studs), I highly recommend buying the low pressure injection kit to fill that crack. This is a very common problem with poured walls.

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