Living in a rented home in America does come with some perks. For one, you don’t get stuck with sponsoring some of the home maintenance projects. Instead, you can call the homeowner or property manager when things go south. However, if you’re a homeowner, one of the things you have to think about is sponsoring foundation repair and maintenance as often as required.
A report by the Connecticut State Department of Housing revealed that about 35,000 homes in Connecticut face the danger of collapsing due to a faulty foundation resulting from naturally occurring Iron Sulfide and Pyrrhotite in building foundations. While this should be treated as a pandemic, it goes a long way to reiterate one thing. Foundation Repair and maintenance are vital for every home that wants to stand the test of time in America.
One of the most difficult parts of living in a home with a faulty foundation is that if you don’t open your eyes to the signs, you may not see the inevitable collapse coming. You may just be woken up one night to the sight of your house crumbling. Now, that isn’t something you want, is it?
Inasmuch as we’ve identified the necessity for carrying out foundation repair in your house, one question usually remains in the minds of many homeowners. The question is, “how often should I carry out foundation repairs for my home?”
Other questions that may come up along the line, including the cost of foundation repairs, and signs a homeowner must look out for before they call a foundation repair service. If you have had any of these questions, here are some quick and reliable answers for you.
How often should you carry out foundation repair for your home?
Knowing that a solid foundation is necessary for your house to stand strong for a long time, foundation repair then becomes an important aspect of home owning you should take seriously.
The National Foundation Repair Association (NFRA) reports that the most common cause of foundation failure is poor maintenance. Such failures can be spotted if the homeowners and residents are a bit more meticulous about carrying out foundation inspection exercises. Also, knowing which signs to look for can be of help.
Under ideal conditions, you should carry out comprehensive foundation repair and maintenance in your home at least once every year. A thorough inspection of the foundation of your home should be carried out at least twice every year, or once every quarter (that is four times per year).
Sticking to this routine, although a bit tasking on the pockets, would most likely save you a lot of pain and damage control. If you built your home specifically to rent or lease it to other people, carrying out comprehensive foundation repair and maintenance exercises should be paramount to you. In this case, complete foundation maintenance, repair, or inspection should be carried out at the beginning of the year.
This timeframe is recommended because the beginning of the year usually coincides with the time when people relocate. You wouldn’t want new tenants in your house unless you are 100% sure that the place is habitable and free of impending danger.
Note, also, that comprehensive foundation maintenance/repair exercises are multi-faceted and should include sub-services like Basement Waterproofing.
What signs should you look out for before you call for foundation repair services?
If you don’t want to be taken unawares, there are telltale signs that suggest that your house may just be suffering from a faulty foundation. Spotting out these signs in time will help you to take steps to prevent a full-scale faulty foundation and the resulting collapse of your house.
Here are some signs you should look out for.
1. Sudden and visible cracks on your walls
Have you noticed sudden cracks in your walls and floors? That may be a sign that you should pay closer attention to the foundation of your house.
2. Holes in the ground
Have sudden holes started springing up on your floors? This could be a sign that the underlying concrete foundation may have been affected and you must attend to this immediately.
3. Water seeps through your walls
If you’ve noticed your home getting unnecessarily cold and humid lately, especially when you know you invested a lot of time and resources in plumbing, it may be a sign that something else is happening.
The damp walls could mean that your rain gutters are filled up because there’s been clogging in your water drainage pipes. Also, if water starts running down the exterior walls of your home (instead of draining away from designated pipes), you may want to look closer. The excess water in your walls can harm the concrete in your foundations over time.
4. Your doors and windows refuse to shut
If your doors and windows have to be forcefully pried before they open, your foundation may be in danger of getting damaged.
There are so many other signs of a faulty foundation. However, these 4 are the most common.
How to prevent foundation damage as a homeowner
The truth is this. There’s almost nothing you can do to prevent nature from taking its toll on your house sooner or later. If the effects of bad plumbing don’t get to your foundation soon enough, natural elements in the earth (like the Iron Sulfide and Pyrrhotite we talked about early on) can eat away the foundation of your home.
That said, you must play your part as a homeowner to mitigate the effects of nature on your home’s foundation and keep your structure standing for as long as it should.
Here are a few things you must keep in place.
1. Check out the slopes of your property
If you missed this during the construction stage of your home, carrying out this exercise is necessary right now.
The next time there’s a thunderstorm or heavy rain, put on a raincoat and take a walk around your property. Study the drainage pattern of water on your property. Does water flow away from the foundation of your home or toward it?
If you answered yes to the latter option, you need to hire a trusted expert foundation repair service immediately. You may not be in immediate danger, but when water begins to flow toward the foundation of your home, the long-term effects can be terrible.
2. Be on the lookout
We already discussed 4 signs of a faulty foundation in any property. When you begin noticing any of them, don’t treat your suspicions with a wave of your hand. You must take the slightest wall and stair cracks seriously.
In summary
Don’t try to wing it. When the time for foundation maintenance and repair comes, don’t try to do it yourself. Hire the services of trusted foundation repair experts and let them do their jobs as they should.
Usually, foundation repair companies have several trained staff whose skills and expertise are needed during the foundation repair exercises. Depending on the state you reside in, there would be foundation repair experts around you.
If your property is in Kentucky State, you can request a service quote from Regional Foundation Repair (RFP) RFP provides reliable and comprehensive Foundation Repair near Lexington, KY.
