Imagine you’re coming home from the garden store and while carrying in your beautiful new shrubs and flowers you notice a large crack at the base of your house! What? You think, “This house is only 20 years old!”. Your next thought might be, “Am I safe in my house? Is it going to collapse on me and my family?”
First off, take a deep breath. Foundation issues are always something to be concerned about and with the right information and team to help you, they can certainly be remedied to keep your home and family safe.
Foundation issues don’t spring up overnight. In fact, the crack you are seeing has most likely been growing for a while. It can take years to develop a serious foundational issue that would cause your home to collapse. In most cases, if it does, it’s concentrated on a specific area of the home.
So, let’s take a moment to understand the signs of foundation issues or to see if it’s just structural settling.
What Do Foundation Issues Mean?
Most folks believe that foundation issues are dangerous. Although the risks are there, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your home will collapse around you. You can continue to live in your home, but it is important to have it checked out by a professional.
It can be difficult to determine the difference between natural foundational settling and serious problems that should raise concern, especially when foundations are something most homeowners don’t think about too often. That said, standard settling is nothing to worry about and often won’t have too much of an impact on the foundation and structure of a building. With soil expansion and contraction, it is normal for a part of a building to move a few inches. A foundation problem, on the other hand, is a more serious matter and should be monitored with extreme caution. When these problems occur, foundational repair may be necessary.
When to Call a Professional?
The following tell-tale signs are your signal to make the call soon.
- Uneven flooring
- Doors and windows that don’t open easily or are just plain stuck
- Cracks (both horizontal and vertical) on the interior or exterior of the house
- Moldy or wet basements
Will my House Fall Down?
It’s not very likely that your house will fall down around you. But it is very possible that you will experience a section of your home with some serious structural damage such as plumbing or even electrical issues.
The moment that you notice cracks in the walls or concrete slab of your garage or damaged foundation you will want to contact a professional. Also at this time, it is a great idea to call your local home inspection company and a residential structural engineer. Together they can assess the damages and determine the structural integrity of the home.
Let King Piers LLC come to your home’s rescue. Contact us today!
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