A-1 Foundation and Crack Repair emphasizes consumer education. Our loyal blog readers understand this. We welcome the small jobs that bring welcome relief rather than witnessing the emotional and financial pain associated with massive foundation failure. Someone is going to save tens of thousands of dollars by reading and acting upon this blog post.
The foundation is the backbone of your home, and proper maintenance is the key to keep it in tact. However, many factors that contribute to foundation cracks are out of your control. Such as environmental damage or where the home was built. If you are on a heavy clay soil, or poor soil that can affect your foundation. Here are seven signs that you may have problems with your foundation.
- Doors and windows do not close properly. This is a strong indication that something weird is going on with your foundation. Doors and windows that used to open and close with ease have now become more difficult and noisy to operate.
- Sloped Floors. When you drop things on the floor, do they tend to roll down to the same spot?
- Sheetrock cracks. Check door jams and window frames. The thing to watch for is a diagonal crack, often extending from the corner of a door or window frame. This indicates frame twist caused by foundation movement.
- Nails popping out of drywall. If over time you are seeing nail heads popping through the skin of the drywall, it could be an indication of a heaving or settling slab foundation.
- Cracks in exterior walls. Again, look for diagonal cracks, especially in brickwork. It is another sign of foundation problem if the width of the cracks expands with time.
- Sections of brick or siding separating from the framing. This are where vertical cracks come in to play. Do you see separation between sections of siding? Is there separation between the brick and framing? The vertical crack may be wider at the top than at the bottom or vice versa. Such cracks are often a sign of movement in the foundation.
- Leaning chimney. If the chimney is no longer square with the rest of the house or has the telltale diagonal cracks, this is another sign of foundation movement.
Of course these same signs apply to assessing the foundational health of your commercial properties as well. Any single indicator mentioned above is cause for concern. Two or more of these signs is a definite call to action before your foundation problems multiplies.