A home’s first impression plays a critical role in a prospective buyer’s evaluation of a property. Unfortunately foundation issues can negatively impact curb appeal. People want a home that looks good and feels safe. Sagging floors, ceiling cracks, visible foundation cracks, or even the simple knowledge that a home has had foundation repair in the past can be enough to turn even the most excited buyer away.
An engineer may ask for certain testing to be done on things like soil, helical piers or push pier bearing capacities. We have learned not to rush engineers. Soil samples sometimes take up to 3 weeks to come back from the lab if they are requested by the engineer. We know that our customers are eager to have the solution installed but we also want to provide the best, most accurate and well-thought-out solution for your foundation repair based upon all of the information available.
At first, a minuscule crack in the wall or the slight buckling of the foundation might not seem like an immediate problem for your home. Minor issues are often overlooked and neglected—until the problem becomes much larger and compromises the overall stability of your home. The best defense against escalating expenses is to scan for potential signs of foundation damage and address these issues as soon as they appear. Many of these signs often manifest in other parts of the home, usually several levels above the underlying foundation.
If your house is brand new those cracks are probably nothing much to worry about but do your homeowner due diligence and keep your eye on them over time. If they change in size or shape, or you see new ones, that’s a different story. Those cracks should be addressed quicker. Older homes can have foundations created from just about any material including stacked stones with mortar joints. I had one of these homes in the northeast U.S. and the foundation was in need of a bit of love; it and the house were over 150 years old. It’s easy to show age at 150! The foundation had a small leak in the older mortar and the water caused a slight bow; this happened long before I bought the home. One of the easiest ways to fix that was by doing basement foundation waterproofing. A waterproofing paint was applied to the whole wall from the inside. As I mentioned, the French drain was also installed in the yard to pull water away from the foundation. I made sure to complete these fixes as soon as I noticed the problem. The wall didn’t seem to move or leak again after I learned how to make those repairs to save my stone foundation. See more info on Basement waterproofing Colorado.