Year: 2019

If you’re wondering why cracks have appeared in your home’s foundation, there are many potential reasons. The causes range from natural disasters to soil settlement:

1. Both minor and major earthquakes can inflict this kind of damage. A powerful tremor could even detach your home from its foundation, thus harming a wide range of building materials and equipment.

2. Fast-growing roots may cause or exacerbate cracking. Certain tree species are prone to damaging the underpinnings of homes. Examples include elm, aspen, sycamore, boxelder, ash, poplar and oak trees.

3. Fissures can appear when the ground underneath your home settles. This may occur as a result of poor construction practices or an unsuitable soil composition. High clay content promotes cracking.

4. If a piece of heavy equipment or a particularly large vehicle travels near your cellar wall, it could inflict damage. A crane or cement truck might cause this type of harm.

5. A nearby river, lake or ocean could overflow its banks, allowing the water to reach your home. This liquid could exert enough pressure to crack your foundation or damage it more severely.

6. Flooding doesn’t only have natural causes. An abandoned swimming pool could leak water and harm your home’s basement. Roof runoff and water main leaks can trigger similar problems.

7. Falling or windblown objects may hit the part of your foundation that’s visible above the ground. It’s also possible for a car accident to damage this section.

Indications

Your house might require repairs when you see cracks in door frames, floors, walls or the ceiling. Diagonal or wide fissures generally pose a greater threat. Previously flat surfaces may develop slopes.

If you’re concerned about the condition of your foundation, turn to our well-versed repair professionals. We’ll promptly inspect your home and inform you about any serious problems. Please contact us today.

Taking care of your home is essential to ensuring that it stays safe and functional for many years to come. One part of your home that must be kept in excellent condition is your foundation. When your foundation is initially put in, you likely won’t have any problems, however, issues can arise over the years for a variety of reasons. Your foundation may not have been put in properly initially, the ground may have shifted, or there may be too much moisture in the soil. In any of these cases, foundation repair is necessary and house leveling must be completed. House leveling involves lifting your home back into the original position that it was in and is very effective at solving your foundation problems. If you are worried that your house may be in need of house leveling, here are three signs to look out for.

Visually Un-Level

If you go outside and stand in front of your home and notice that it slants to one side of the other, this is a very obvious sign that something is wrong with your foundation. In this situation, house leveling can restore your home to even ground and make it functional for you once more.

Cracks In Your Walls

If you see that there are cracks starting to form down your walls, this is also a sign that you may need to have your house leveled. As the foundation shifts, this can cause your walls to pull in opposing directions, thus creating cracks in them as they shift to try and accommodate this movement.

Shifting Door Frames

If you notice that your doors are sticking or are unable to shut, this may be a sign that your door frames are beginning to shift to accommodate changes in your home’s structure. This is especially worrisome if multiple doors in one area of your home are sticking or won’t close and should be something that you watch closely for.

To see if your home is in need of house leveling or other forms of foundation repair, visit us at Steady House Foundation Repair.

Unfortunately, much of Texas is built on expansive soil. This soil, with a high concentration of clay, holds water longer. As such, it expands when wet and it can shrink dramatically during dry periods. It is not the best soil for building a foundation on, but your home foundation can be just fine if you have proper drainage around your home. There are three parts that can help keep your foundation healthy.

Surface Drainage

Surface drainage controls how much water the soil around your home has a chance to absorb. Even non-expansive soil forms puddles as the soil becomes too saturated. However, surface drainage prevents excess water from being absorbed. The standard technique used to control surface water is grading. By forming small slopes around your foundation, the water rolls away from the foundation instead of pooling next to it. Unfortunately, over time this grading can degrade which will need to be addressed if you see water building up near it.

Gutters

The gutters on your home aren’t just to keep water from damaging your roof, they are crucial for your foundation. Your gutters ferry water away from your roof and to a downspout which then sends it away from your foundation. If it were left to fall naturally, it would drop almost right at your foundation and the force of the fall would severely erode your grading as well.

Subsurface Drainage

This is the last measure of defense against water. Many homes don’t actually need to go quite this far, but if you have had foundation problems in the past, you may need specific subsurface drainage installed. The installation of french drains or channel drains help to whisk excess water away before it can cause problems.

Do you have foundation problems or believe your new home may be at risk? Contact us today to see what Steady House Foundation Repair can do to fix your problems before they get any worse.

Do you potentially have a foundation problem in your home? We have all heard the horror stories about the cost of foundation repair. So it is easy to look at that potentially problematic foundation crack and take the wait and see option rather than having it repaired. However, this inaction will have consequences for your home, and some you may not expect. So what happens when you ignore foundation problems?

Insect and Rodents Infestations

Rodents and insects don’t often walk in the front door. Instead, they squeeze in small gaps around your home’s exterior. If your foundation is shifting and settling, it can create entrances for these small creatures.

Plumbing Problems

Small shifts in your foundation can easily damage the plumbing that is woven within it. Plumbing problems in slab foundations, for example, can go unnoticed for years, but will run up your water bill and will eventually cause more noticeable damage.

If these plumbing problems start to happen in your crawl space, they can also attract insect and rodents as well as grow mold and mildew.

Wall / Interior Damage

If left unchecked long enough, foundation problems will make themselves known in other ways. It could be a crack running up your drywall or basement walls starting to bow inwards. These mean serious foundation issues and once they happen, you have to repair the damaged interior as well.

Increased Repair Cost

One of the biggest reasons to get a potential foundation issue checked out is that the longer you leave it and the worse it gets means that it will be more expensive to repair. Those foundation repair cost horror stories come from homes that did nothing to repair foundation problems before they became catastrophes. If you spot it early, it costs only a fraction to repair it.

Do you have foundations problems? These problems only beget more problems that increase the cost of repair. If you want to catch and repair foundation problems early, contact us today.

Having a foundation inspection is so important and can benefit you for several reasons. This article will discuss three great reasons to have your foundation inspected.

Prevent Further Damage From Occurring In Your Home 

If for any reason you think that you may have a problem with your foundation, it is important that you call an expert right away. The small crack that you see may be just the beginning of settling with your foundation, or it may be signs of a huge foundational problem that has otherwise been unseen up until this point. In any case, the sooner that you call for help, the quicker the damage can be stopped and the repairs will begin.

Keeps You And Your Family Safe

A foundation that has been compromised can be incredibly harmful to you and your family. If the ground below your foundation has started to settle and shift, then your foundation is no longer on a firm base. This in turn means that the structure of your entire home has been compromised. Feeling like your home isn’t safe to live in is terrifying. Thankfully, a foundation inspection can help to assure you that you are in fact safe in your home or it will allow them to pinpoint and fix the problems with your foundation.

Save You From Making A Bad Purchase 

Having a foundation inspected on a home that you are thinking about purchasing is a great idea. If the inspector does find that something is wrong with the foundation, you will be able to back away from what would have been a terrible investment for you. If you fail to have the foundation inspected, you may end up with a home that turns into a huge money pit for you.

To schedule your foundation inspection today, visit us at Steady House Foundation Repair.

For some, they choose to buy a new home built within at least the last few years because they are is less likely to be a problem. Everything inside and out is new so they are less likely to have an expensive home problems in the next few years. However, as with everything new, if you don’t perform proper maintenance, problems are in your future. If you hope to avoid that with the foundation of your new home, here are a few simple tasks you can do to keep your foundation maintained.

New Foundation Maintenance Checklist

If you have a new foundation, you can expect some settling to happen. That is just what happens to new foundations. However, while you can expect to see some hairline cracking, anything deeper can be a sign of more serious issues. While you can’t prevent natural settling, you can still do the following to keep your foundation healthy longer.

• Monitor exterior cracking and watch for interior cracking on walls or floors
• Water your foundation in periods of drought, especially if your home was built on expansive clay
• Making sure gutters and other drainage systems are clean and not clogged
• Monitor landscaping and root growth near your foundation

These tasks are all relatively simple to do. A lot of new home foundation maintenance is just walking around your home’s exterior and making sure everything looks fine. Looking for tree roots, pooling water, or larger cracks is easy to do, and when caught early, foundation damage isn’t the financial horror story to fix that many make it out to be.

If you are having foundation problems, no matter the age of your home, contact us today. Steady House Foundation can help you assess the situation and advise you on the options you have to repair it.

If you have casually taken a level to your floors and found that it is not level in more or more areas, you may think that it is time for a foundation repair. In truth, wildly off level homes may need correction, but even if you just had foundation repair done, your home may still not be perfectly level.

In foundation terms, anything within 7/10 of an inch is considered fine. Typically, even if you just had your home leveled because there was a problem, anything outside of perfect level is from construction. When your foundation is poured, it can come out as uneven because it was poured thicker in some areas or it had higher levels of moisture exposure when it was poured – as in the day was more humid than the previous. There are other things that can affect the level of a home as well. Piers are subject to shifting with weather conditions and you may have more serious problems like expansive clay soil that can effect level. Typically, unless your home is an inch or more off level, you don’t need to be too concerned. You won’t notice much difference in just a slightly off level home and typically it doesn’t cause too serious of damage.

However, if you notice that your home is becoming uneven and increasingly so, then that is an issue that needs addressed. Contact us today to see what Steady House Foundation Repair can do to get your home back on a steady foundation. While a slightly off level home isn’t serious, a home that is rapidly off level or is changing its degree of leveling is a very serious matter that will need to be addressed. We can help you get to the root cause of the issue so that we can make the right repair.

Pier-and-beam foundations are very common here in the DFW area. If your home has a crawl space, chances are it has this type of foundation. While pier-and-beam foundations are normally very stable, they can nonetheless develop problems that would require a professional to address. Here are a few common problems as well as some solutions for them.

Pier Collapse-Your piers may fully or partially collapse, lean to one side, or sink into the ground. Collapsing piers can cause the rest of your foundation to become uneven, leading to cracks and other imperfections. It can also result in damage to the beams.

In cases of pier collapse, we can often stabilize them to prevent further damage. Some shimming may be necessary as well.

Shifting Beams-Unstable beams may shift over time. When this happens, you may notice sagging floors as well. Installing shims, foundation support, or new piers may alleviate this problem.

Shim Failure-If your home has previously been shimmed, contractors may have used inferior materials such as plywood. In those instances, replacing those shims with standard material such as steel is required.

Rotting or Decayed Beams-This is something you are more likely to experience if you have wooden rather than steel beams. Decay can happen as a result of moisture damage, flooding, or an insect infestation. Rotten or decaying beams are unstable, and should therefore be replaced.

If you notice mold or mildew, you should also replace your beams. The presence of mold and mildew suggests that your foundation has already been subject to moisture damage, in which case the beams may very well be compromised. Internal beam damage is something that cannot be eliminated simply by removing the mold.

Pier and beam foundation repairs are not DIY projects. If you notice a problem with your foundation, please contact us instead. We are an experienced foundation repair company, and will ensure your safety and the health of your foundation during every job.