Your home’s overall structural load depends on the strength of your foundation. The foundation supports everything else – walls, windows, floors, doorways, roof – so it is necessary to keep your foundation strong. Foundation damage can cause serious problems throughout your home and its attached elements.
The foundation is subject to environmental stress, expanding and contracting soil, excessive moisture, and inadequate drainage are some of the most common threats to your home’s foundation.
Over time, the foundation is subjected to shift, crack, or settle unevenly due to environmental stress. It has become very common that early signs are neglected, causing serious damage in the future. In this article, we have mentioned some early signs of foundation damage.
Signs Of Foundation Damage
1. Basement/Crawl Space Moisture
Protecting your basement should be your priority because a damp basement or leaking basement or crawl space moisture can lead to several home issues such as musty smells, mold growth and sagging, uneven floors throughout the house.
Any cracks in the basement would be an easy passage for water and moisture, and this can cause severe damage to the foundation.
2. Bugs In The Basement
Bugs such as centipedes, pillbugs, carpenter ants, roaches, silverfish, and earwigs, are drawn to wet basements and often enter through cracks in the foundation.
3. Uneven and Sagging Floors
Uneven or sagging floors can be a severe problem to the foundation. They lead to shifting of soil, humidity from water seepage, and no proper waterproofing in the foundation and basement can also be one of the flooring problems.
4. Cracked and Bowed Walls
Cracked and bowed walls are caused due to three main underlying issues: soil movement under the foundation, hydrostatic pressure, and poor water drainage, While any cracks and bowing in walls can be fixed.
There are two types of cracks that you should know to determine the severity of the damage. In comparison, the horizontal cracks are more of being concerned than the vertical cracks.
Because horizontal cracks indicate the perimeter of your house foundation is under a lot of pressure, the verticle cracks aren’t mainly to be concerned since drywall runs in the same direction.
5. Crooked Doors
Crooked doors are caused when a foundation settles, shifts, or develops cracks in the house. Like flooring and wall issues, crooked doors may occur because of moisture issues in the basement or crawl space.
These signs can be seen in the doors where the top left side of the door may be higher than the top right side of it. Sometimes you may experience door sticking and not be able to pull back or close; this is caused due to humidity,
It is caused after 2-3 days of heavy rain or severe flooding. So it is necessary to take early measures to prevent future severe damage, and it may also lead to spending more money.
6. Cracked Chimney
Cracked chimneys are caused due to poor exterior drainage, or expanding soil can cause foundations to crack and settle. To stabilize the chimney, pilings can be installed as a reinforcement.
7. Standing Water Under The House
It is necessary to have a proper drainage system to divert the rainwater away from the house via gutters, properly directed downspouts, and drainage systems.
If there is no drainage system or an Improper drainage system, it can often cause water to collect under the house, resulting in foundation damage.
8. Vegetation Around The Foundation
It is recommended to avoid planting or removing the weeds close to the foundations as their roots can grow deep towards the foundation, which is a serious issue and can be a problem for structural integrity; it may result in cracks around the structure.
9. Doors and Windows Frame Separation From Structure
If you notice any dislocation or separation of windows or doors, that is one sign that your foundation is in trouble. It must be resolved by consulting a Profesional as soon as possible, and failing to do so may lead the structure into serious problems.
You can notice these problems when double doors frequently do not align properly and the doors no longer latch.
10. Bouncing Floors
Sometimes in wood flooring, You can feel bouncing while walking, which is caused due to rotten wood, which is one of the alarming signs that your foundation is in danger.
11. Rotten Wood – Piers & Beams
We must check wooden Piers and beams as they have a high chance of getting affected by moisture. There is also the possibility that these wooden piers and beams can be affected by termites or floods.
If you find any rotten wood pier or beam, that could be one of the foundation damage signs, but not always.