Do you know what causes damage to the foundation? The foundation of any structure is the key to maintaining good stability. And this foundation depends on the soil. When the soil is too wet or too dry, it could cause the soil to swell up or shrink, leading to foundation damages.
If you find your floors creaking, door protruding, or water in your basement, then it means that there is significant damage to the foundation. You should go for a good foundation repair company to fix this issue and restore your foundation in its stable condition.
In this blog, we will give you in-depth knowledge on what are the different conditions that lead to foundation damage?
Read on to know the 5 Reasons Why Your Foundation Gets Damaged
1. When There’s High Water Content in the Soil
A high water table is one of the common and most adverse causes of foundation damage. Initially, when building your home, the foundation was placed in the space where the soil was the dugout. After placing the foundation, the loose soil will be poured back in the space between the foundation and untouched earth.
Sometimes, the soil settles around your house and it can create a dip in the region. When it’s raining and your house is present at a lower slope, then the water can drain into the regions of the loose earth under the foundation. Or, when your home is present near a lake or river, the natural draining path of the bedrock would now be blocked by your home. Hence, this water can drain into the porous soil around your foundation.
Eventually, this water can begin seeping through your wall joint into your basement.
2. When There Are Extreme Changes in Temperature
If you’re living in an area where the temperature fluctuates between extreme hot and cold, then it’s essential to keep an eye on your foundation. When you subject the foundation to extreme temperature changes and fluctuating contracting and expanding the earth around it, it’s bound to need some foundation repair at some point in time.
You can identify this issue by the cracks in the foundation, bricks, or stonework near the foundation. You can also notice your floors becoming uneven or problems in the smooth movement of doors and windows. It’s a sign that you need to go for good foundation repair services and fix the issue soon.
3. When the Soil Isn’t Compactly Filled
It’s understandable when an old home has foundation issues. But when a newly built house requires foundation repair, it is most often the poor filling of the soil around the foundation. When the loose soil is poured back in near the foundation, it’s important to fill it compactly and let it settle. When it isn’t done properly, it can lead to foundation problems from the beginning.
4. When There’s Plumbing Leakage Near the Foundation
Even when you’ve done everything right and built your house higher up on the slope, these plumbing leakages would increase the soil’s moisture content. This causes the soil to expand and exert pressure on the foundation.
When there’s no leakage for some time or when the water isn’t flowing through the pipe, the soil dries up. Again, the leakage occurs when there’s water in the plumbing line. Due to such continuous action of becoming wet and drying up the soil, the foundation can deteriorate.
During such situations, you can opt for foundation repair by consolidation. Through this process, you can expel the soil’s moisture without drying it out once and for all.
5. When The Foundation Dries Up
When the foundation was built, the temperature of the area must be at its optimum. And when there’s a drought, it can dry up the soil and cause the foundation to settle. You can observe this settlement of the foundation in the perimeter, where the soil has more chances of drying up first. Again, this can cause an imbalance in the foundation and lead to an uneven floor structure.
So, How Can You Repair the Foundation?
The only way to resolve this issue is to hire a good foundation repair company with experience in identifying and solving the root cause of the issue. While it’s true that you need to shell out some bucks, you can also get a foundation repair estimate before you make your choice.
Guardian Foundation Repair is one of the popular companies for foundation repair Knoxville. We offer the complete services for repairing your foundation, from adjusting the block columns and repairing the crawl space to assessing the cause of the foundation damage. You can request for a no-obligatory online estimate before you hire us.