2 Issues That Indicate Your Home Needs Foundation Repair
ShareYour home's foundation is immensely important, for it's the structure on which every other part of your home sits. Should the foundation develop an issue, any number of problems could arise in other parts of your home. If you notice either of these two issues, your home likely needs foundation repair.
1. Doors and Windows That Are Askew
If your home's doors and windows are difficult to operate because they're misaligned, a foundation issue could be the cause of the misalignment. This isn't the only potential cause, but it's one of several to check.
First, check to see how many doors and windows are difficult to open and close. If just one is a problem, then the structural issue might be in the frame of that particular door or window. Check the frame's components with a level to see whether any of its parts are askew. If one is, you can just adjust or replace that frame to resolve the problem.
Second, pay attention to the seasons during which your home's doors and windows are difficult to operate. Wood naturally expands and contracts as humidity changes throughout the seasons, and this process can sometimes make doors and windows more difficult to operate at certain times of the year. If the issue comes and goes, seasonal shifts are to blame.
Finally, you should call a foundation repair specialist if neither of the other two potential causes explains the issue. If many doors and windows are hard to operate year-round, there probably is a misalignment, crack, or other problem in the foundation.
2. Vertical and Diagonal Cracks in Walls
A crack in a wall is never a good sign, and it's almost certainly a sign of a foundation issue if the cracks are vertical or diagonal. These types of cracks from movements in the foundation that cause walls to shift in their alignment. In most cases, one corner or side of the wall drops and this forces the structure of the wall to fracture vertically or diagonally.
Such cracks can form in drywall easily, but they'll also form in brick walls if the foundation issue is significant enough. You may find them in both interior or exterior walls and on any level of your home.
Because foundation issues are a likely culprit of wall cracks, you should contact home foundation repair specialists whenever you notice a crack in one or more of your home's walls.