Month: July 2019

3 Reasons to Install Drainage Solutions Along Your Fence

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Now that the summer is solidly underway, it can feel like it’s “foundation damage season.” The hot, parched soil is pulling away from your foundation unless you actively counter the moisture loss, and some of your new spring foundation plants might not last the season. While shoring up your home’s foundation defenses is always a good idea, don’t just focus on your property. Think about home your neighbors or the surrounding area might be leading to foundation damage, too. Here are 3 Reasons to Install Drainage Solutions Along Your Fence

3 Reasons to Install Drainage Solutions Along Your Fence

1. Your neighbor’s house is on a higher slope than yours.

Even in the suburbs, there are still hills and variations in soil height. While developers may have tried to create the perfect neighborhood drainage areas to counteract these problems, your house may still be downhill from where. That pushes water and soil onto your property. Excess water along your foundation can create unequal settling, and the extra pressure from new soil can knock the bottom of your fence out of position.

2. Surrounding drainage systems might be pushing water in your direction.

There are lots of DIY drainage solutions that are free for people to try. But many of those plans don’t alert people about the secondary harms of redirecting drainage or digging into the soil. If your neighbors are installing retaining walls or French drains, that’s going to change how effectively your own drainage systems work.

3. Neighboring construction projects can hurt your soil’s stability.

If someone is constructing a room addition, a basement, or an in-ground swimming pool nearby, that’s going to change how your soil drains and behaves. The soil pressure will change, and that will impact the settling rate at the side closest to the construction. While some settling is inevitable, the real damage happens when one corner of your house settles more than the other.

If you want to make sure your foundation is safe from general summer settling and neighborhood projects, contact us today to schedule an evaluation.

Should You Buy a Home With Foundation Issues?

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“Should I buy a house with foundations issues?” – Ask this question to any real estate agent in the world and you will probably get a very animated “No” as an answer. Foundation issues are the bane of any home, and most new homeowners don’t want to deal with them. However, while you can probably find a good home with a good foundation, you may be able to get a better deal on a home with foundation issues.

Should You Buy a Home With Foundation Issues?

The housing market is fairly hot across the United States right now, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area is no exception. Houses can sell within hours of being listed, but houses with foundation issues will likely be on the market for a bit longer and be listed cheaper. This means you can probably get a better deal on a house with a foundation issue, but you need to know what you are getting into.

Foundation Inspection

If you found a home that you love, but it has foundation issues, your first step should be to call for a foundation inspection. Home inspections will find many problems, and will even cite foundation problems, but only a foundation inspection will detail how serious those foundation issues are. Furthermore, a foundation inspection will likely give you a forecast of how much it will cost to repair.

Fixing the Issue

A home with foundation issues is often around 20% cheaper than comparable homes in the area because it is such a major issue. This means you obviously want the foundation repair to not exceed that amount you are saving. You may also be able to angle that the issue is fixed by the homeowners before you buy the home in negotiations. However, it is better to fix it yourself so you can choose a good contractor rather than just the cheapest one.

If the math behind a foundation repair works out so that you are getting the home for a good price, then it may be worth purchasing. However, you will also need to make sure that whatever caused the foundation issue won’t come back as well.

If you are looking at a home with potential foundation issues or need foundation repair at your home, contact us today. Let Steady House Foundation Repair come to your aid.