lundi 30 juin 2014

Keeping Your Home Foundation In Good Repair

By Franklin Vickers


With most objects and living things, there is a feature that forms the core; the driving force on which every other part of it depends. While the other features are important in coming together to form a whole, if you were to remove that driving force, everything else would cease to work properly. For a human, this would be the brain. If that were damaged, the effects would be apparent across the entire body. For a physical structure, it would be the foundation. If the foundation were damaged, the rest of the building would exhibit detrimental symptoms.

Making sure your home's foundation is up to standard and kept in good repair is vital to protecting the investment you made when you bought it. A bad foundation can cause endless headaches for a home owner. The effects can be noticed all over the house.

There are a number of clues that point to foundational issues. If your home has such a problem, you have probably noticed them. They include, but are not limited to: cracks in concrete, tile or other hard surfaces, doors or windows that do not fit properly, walls, chimneys or other structures that are cracking or lopsided, and water leakage from the walls or pipes in the basement. Any of these signs warrants an inspection as soon as possible.

There are certain reasons that foundations fail. The most common is due to soil instability. Various factors, such as moisture absorption, or improper steps taken during initial construction phases, can create voids in the soil. These voids create inconsistencies in the leveling and stability of the soil that the foundation rests on. The soil shifts cause the foundation to shift, which, in turn, causes stress to the above-ground structure of the home. Once this process progresses and gets bad enough, the home will be unable to take it and will begin to release the tension by cracking.

Once you know that something is wrong with the foundation, the most important thing to do is to get the problem dealt with as soon as possible to prevent further damage to the home. Finding a reliable contractor is the key ensuring the process goes smoothly. Many people choose to leave it in their hands and go about their business, but you may be curious as to what the process usually involves.

Foundation repair relies on several different methods that are proven to be effective. Most commonly, a structure will be underpinned. This is the method of placing supportive piers underneath the foundation to create a more stable, consistent mass for the foundation to rest on. With the foundation on more stable ground, it is better suited to support the weight of the structure above, taking the stress off of the floors and walls.

It would be unwise to ignore the importance of keeping your foundation in good repair. The longer you wait to deal foundational problems, the more damage they can cause, and the more dangerous it is for those living in the home.




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