Why is Your Foundation Sinking & What Problems Can It Cause?

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The foundation of your home is the most important part of the structure. The entire weight of the building sits on the foundation. When something goes wrong with the foundation, the entire structure will be damaged. One of the problems that can occur is a sinking foundation.

Causes of a Sinking Foundation

Poor drainage

If water is allowed to pool next to the foundation, it runs the risk of eroding the soil around it. This erosion can weaken the soil supporting the foundation, leaving it unable to properly support the weight of the house.

Active Soils

Active soils are ones like clay that have a significant shrink-swell cycle. When the soil is saturated, this could cause problems in the form of heaving. During prolonged dry stretches, however, the soil will shrink. This will allow the weight of the house to compact it as the foundation sinks.

Poorly Compacted Fill Soil

Sometimes the problem is as old as the home. If the soil was not compacted at the time of building, the weight of the home will cause the soil to compress.

What Problems Can A Sinking Foundation Cause?

It is important to know some of the signs of a sinking foundation. If you look around the interior and exterior of your home, look for some of these signs:

Wall cracks

As the foundation sinks, it is unlikely to do so evenly. Because of this, stress is placed on the walls as the differential settlement is either causing forces to be applied to the wall that either stretch or compress it.

These cause cracks to form in the walls. Settlement-related cracks tend to be either vertical or diagonal in nature (horizontal cracks are usually caused by a different serious structural issue). Hairline vertical cracks indicate minor settlement. Most buildings experience this. If the cracks grow larger, however, you have reached the point of serious foundation problems.

Ceiling cracks

This is along the same lines. A sinking foundation throws the whole home out of alignment. That will not only affect walls, but the ceiling as well.

Sloping floors

If a portion of the foundation starts to sink to a greater degree than the rest of it, that is going to cause the floors to begin to slope toward where the greatest amount of settlement is occurring.

Doors and Windows that Stick

This is another byproduct of the home being out of alignment.

It naturally has the greatest effect on the portion of the home that are the weakest, like the places that have been cut out for windows or doors. While this sometimes takes the shape of cracks emanating from the window or door frames, it can also lead to the doors and windows no longer fitting properly. They will likely stick in some areas while leaving gaps in others.

Leaning Chimneys

If your chimney is built on the outside of your house, and either the foundation under the house or the chimney begins to sink, that can cause significant problems. The chimney is likely to begin pulling away from the house. This is a serious structural issue for your chimney.

Cracks in Exterior Bricks

Remember how cracks form in the interior walls? The same thing can happen to exterior masonry walls. The cracks might be vertical in nature and extend through the bricks or travel up the mortar lines in a stair step pattern.

What To Do About a Sinking Foundation

If you see any of these signs of a sinking foundation, it is important to contact a professional to come and inspect your foundation. The experts at Jerry's Waterproofing will come and give you a free inspection and offer you the best sinking foundation repair solution for your needs. The sooner the repair is done, the least amount of damage that will occur throughout your home.

Sinking Foundation Solutions

The contractors at Jerry's Waterproofing uses underpinning products to repair a sinking foundation. These underpinning products include either push piers or helical piers.

These piers are driven deep into the ground through unstable soil until they reach a solid soil layer. After installation, each pier is individually load tested. After testing, the entire weight of the structure is lifted onto the piers using hydraulic jacks. The foundation will be back to its original level and stabilized again.

All of the products we use for foundation repair are manufactured by Earth Contact Products (ECP), the very best foundation repair products in the industry today. Jerry's Waterproofing has over 30 years of experience, and between our expertise and using the best products for foundation repair, you can be assured that your foundation will be level and stabilized for many years to come.

Don't let a sinking foundation become an even bigger issue such as foundation failure. Let the professionals at Jerry's Waterproofing give you a free inspection and offer you the best foundation repair solutions for your needs. We also offer waterproofing and crawl space repair. Don't hesitate, contact us today!