What are the Evident Signs that Your Building Needs Underpinning?
Problems with a building's foundation can affect its ability to endure the stress and weight of the entire structure. If you don't take immediate measures to stabilise the foundation, you will end up with even costlier repairs. Alternatively, you may choose to demolish the structure, especially if the amount of repair work is too costly and involved. That's why you need to look out for the following signs that indicate your foundation could be experiencing some damage. This way, you can hire underpinning services the foundation and safeguard your investment.
One of the most obvious sign that you will notice are cracks on the wall. These will start as small and seemingly harmless cracks, which will start to get bigger and deeper. Also, you may notice cracks on your interior flooring, patio, porch, windows and door openings. These cracks occur when the foundation fails to handle the weight of the structure. There is an uneven weight distribution which causes the structure to shift. As a result, the walls and floors will also bear the stress and develop cracks. These should be addressed immediately; otherwise, the cracks grow bigger, and repairs will be costly.
If you suspect your foundation is starting to fail, try opening and closing different doors in your house. Do they respond the way they used to when the structure was in good condition? Or do the doors stick and you have to apply some pressure to open and close them? When doors and windows get stuck as you open and close, they could be signalling a bigger problem with your foundation. As the foundation starts to fail, the building's weight shifts and this causes gaps to develop in the door and window frames. This results in misalignment which causes these fixtures to get stuck when you try to open and close them.
Another evident sign of foundation problems is a building that is leaning on one side. To see this, you have to be outside of the house. You will notice that the roof no longer sits level on the building as it should. One side of the roof will be leaning to one side. If you have a one-story house, you may even be able to see your ceiling hanging lower than it used to. This is a sign that the foundation has already failed and the basement is also caving.
Foundation problems should be addressed immediately if you want to save your investment. Contact an expert who can inspect the building and commence the process of foundation underpinning.