Signs of a Foundation Issue You Shouldn’t Ignore

Whether you have a fully finished basement or just a crawl space with some extra storage areas, your home’s foundation is critical to the stability of the rest of it. Sometimes homes are built quickly, and the proper precautions are not taken to ensure that the foundation lasts for a long time. Therefore, homeowners end up with foundation issues that are incredibly costly. Foundation issues could also happen to older homes where settling and shifting have happened over time. Here’s a few foundation signs that you should get checked out, so you don’t find yourself in an emergency, and expensive, situation such as water in your basement.

Cracks on Interior Walls

Most of the time the cracks will appear on walls in your basement, where the foundation is exposed. That doesn’t mean that they won’t be present on the upper levels of your home as well. Cracks in the wall are a direct result of the foundation settling in an uneven environment because as the earth moves and shifts, your home does too. Check the walls often for cracks in the drywall.

Doors and Window Frames aren’t Quite the Same

When the house was built, the door frames would have been completely square, and doors would (likely) have shut completely without any noticeable gaps between the frame and the door. If you have noticed that now there’s a gap at the top of the door frame this could be a result of the foundation shifting. Another sign is to look at the window frames: do window panes sit evenly and squarely in the frame? If not, this again is a sign of shifting and a potential issue with your foundation.

A Leaky Roof

Did you have your roof replaced, and it’s still leaking? Well, it could be a sign of a poorly done job, but it could also be a sign of foundation issues. If you have foundation issues, then replacing the shingles on your roof will not fix the real issue. If your foundation has moved, it means that your roof is no longer perfectly aligned with the walls of your home, and therefore water is getting in. If you can, have an independent roofing contractor (different from the one who did the job) to check if the work was poor or if it’s a sign of a bigger issue.

Standing Water

After it rains do you find that you have an accumulation of water in your basement? You probably know this is a sign of a leak somewhere but a leaky basement is a sign of foundation issues you should never ignore. This means that water is coming in from outside and enough is getting through that it’s obvious to you. You can place temporary measures such as troughs to drain water away from your foundation, but the best thing to do is have your foundation checked over by a professional.

Foundation issues can be pricey to fix, but waiting to fix them until it becomes an emergency is going to end up costing you even more in the long run. If you notice any of these signs in your home, have a professional come in and give you a list of projects with prices that you can work away at getting fixed.