Could movement of the foundation have caused the cracking? Rotten wood allowing movement?

You have got to get it where it will drain away from the house. I'd try to get the broomed peeble surface panels out of there and go with drain tile. Any drop in slope away from the corner?

drain tile

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Jim

It's not apparent in the pic but the sidewalk has a good slope forward from the vantage point. Maybe 20-30% slope. The foundation does seem to be moving and has been for a while. Seems that houses on hills move downhill, probably slower than glaciers, but they do move. Most of the cracks above were 1/4" or less wide, the one at the bottom I filled yesterday was mostly where large pieces of stucco but in several spots I could also see and feel jagged cracks in the foundation that extended downward an unkown amount. Quite a bit of the stucco patch was taken in, lot of room in those cracks IOW. I should have taken some before pics.

I think it not unlikely that this alone will stop much of the leak in that area. Having the slope direct the forming of a small pond above a crack in the foundation that large can't be good.

The problem with using drain tile is I'd have nowhere to send the water. I'd have to tunnel under the sidewalk and as it's up against a 8" or so concrete retaining wall on the other side with only a foot or so of soil between it and the property line would be a huge, near impossible job.

This is one of those houses with no eaves. I'm guessing it's a flat roof. The chute feeding the downspout protrudes from the wall about a foot from the top. Water is always going to find this spot.

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