When inspecting the foundation and structural integrity of a home, there are several key clues that can give insight into a current or potential future problem.
A home’s foundation can have potential or developing future problems. Cracking, signs of water damage and shifting or bowing walls or even doors and/or windows that stick could be signs of a larger issue.
While houses are built to shift and are expected to shift over time, it is always a good idea to have a trained inspector take a look at any major or even minor signs of structural decay. There are a few major reasons why these problems may be occurring.
Water Damage
Water has a way of finding the uneven areas of a foundation or seeping into a crack and causing major damage over time. Whether it be due to improper construction or just general wear and tear over the years in an aged home, this is a common issue to look out for and guard against.
Here in the piedmont of North Carolina, the clay based soil has a way of becoming quickly saturated with water. If you or your inspector notice something like bowing basement walls, this can be a sign of major water damage over time.
Improper shedding over water away from the home in the form of a deficient gutter system around the roof of the home can and eventually will eat away at the foundation around the outer walls. One major giveaway of this problem are an un-level floor or ceiling.
Improper Construction
This one is an obvious one, but sometimes there are problems that maybe have gone unnoticed for some time. If a home is not built exactly to code and goes unchecked, over the years and life of the home small deficiencies have a way of becoming much larger and more problematic.
There are very particular guidelines in the form of code that a home must be built. If there were any shortcuts taken or problems that were somehow missed during construction, this will eventually affect the rest of the home.
Changes in Soil
It’s worth noting that even if your home or prospective home has been built to code and is solid from top to bottom, in rare cases sinkholes or even just shrinkage in the soil can create gaps under the foundation. If a thorough inspector will catch an issue like this early on, it may be fairly simple to remedy. Obviously if left unchecked, these holes or gaps will be a dangerous and costly problem that you might be stuck with.
Sometimes there can even be different types of soils on top of one another and with the weight of a home over the years, something called differential settlement can happen. The best way to remedy this problem will be solidifying the loose soil with a chemical grout. The earlier this is discovered, the easier and less costly the solution will be.
What are the Best Ways to Prevent Foundational Issues?
For the simple reason that most structural problems with the foundation of your home will arise from either too much moisture of not enough over time, simple things like watering during hot months and shedding water away from your home properly and consistently will go a long way to extend the life of your foundation and in turn, your home.
The problem with buying a home especially here in central NC comes when a lot of times you as a buyer don’t know if the seller or any prior owner has taken care of their property the way that they should have.
We are Foundation Inspection Pros
Rest assured that with Above Parr Home Inspections, we are trained and knowledgeable to inspect and detect even the smallest clues to give away foundational and structural deficiencies in the home. We’ve been at this for some time and take pride in the fact that when you receive your inspection report, what we’ve outlined for you, foundational or otherwise, reflects the actual condition of the home so you aren’t left guessing if you’ve made a wise and informed decision or not.