Your house is more than just a house, it’s your home. Your family’s safe place, and a place to enjoy friends. When a foundation problem is discovered, as a homeowner, you are often left with more questions than answers. You’ve come to the right place, here we will explore common causes of foundation damage and explain the importance of repair before foundation failure is likely. Browse the common causes below to learn more.
Reasons For Foundation Damage
As shocking as foundation damage can be, it helps to understand the causes of foundation damage. The more you know about the problems at your home, the less likely they are to grow worse. Learn what you need to know by reading below.
Expansive Soil
Expansive soil is your foundation’s number one enemy. It’s important to know the soil type around your foundation because it can greatly impact your home. If you have clay soils surrounding your foundation walls, like many areas of Florida and Georgia, you need to be extra careful with proper drainage and water management. Clay soil acts like a sponge and absorb a lot of moisture. Clay soils can also expand up to 15 times its dry volume. This expansion pushes pressure against your crawl space and basement walls, leading to bowing and a cracked foundation.
Deep Foundation Soils
Understanding soil layers and their supportive properties help homeowners understand the importance of a deep foundation repair. The top layers, called the surface soil and subsoil, easily compact, making them less stable. This is also where the dangerous expansive clay typically resides. Moving deeper, the parent rock, or bedrock, is much more stable and is ideal when installing helical piers or any foundation settlement repair solution.
Foundation Settlement
As we learned, clay expands and puts pressure on foundation walls. However, when the clay soil dries, it shrinks. This creates a void next to the foundation wall leaving it unsupported and allowing it to move, often resulting in foundation settlement. Foundations rarely sink evenly, so expect cracks in the foundation walls, as well as the drywall upstairs.
How Alpha Foundations Stops Foundation Damage
As you may have guessed, removing the soil surrounding your foundation walls and replacing it with a more favorable soil is not an option. Even foundation replacement isn’t the best solution since the soil that created your foundation problems remains. After decades of repairing homes in Orlando, Fort Myers, and Valdosta, Georgia, Alpha Foundation has developed proven solutions for long-lasting foundation repair. Our pier systems are driven deep into stable soil to both support and potentially lift your sinking foundation back to its original location. Our wall repair options, like wall anchors or the SettleStop IntelliBraceTM Beam System stabilize your basement walls from the damaging pressure expansive soils create.
Call or schedule your free foundation inspection to learn more about what your specific home’s foundation needs.
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