If you notice any of the following issues in your home, your home's foundation may be in need of repair.
You have noticed rising damp on the walls of your home
Rising damp occurs when groundwater below a house begins to move upwards through the walls of the property. There are several things that can cause rising damp, one of which is a crack in a house's foundation.
A crack can allow the moisture in the soil underneath the foundation to gradually make its way upwards through the entire house (via capillary action). As such, if you have noticed patches of black mould and condensation on the walls of your home, you should arrange for a damage contractor that specialises in foundation repair to check the condition of your foundation and, if necessary, to seal up any cracks that they discover.
The shape of your home's door and window frames have changed
If you have noticed that the frames surrounding your home's doors and windows have started to warp, then it is quite likely that your foundation is in need of repair. Distortion of these frames is often a sign that the foundation of a house has developed a problem called 'subsidence'; this is where the foundation starts to cave in, because the soil below it has contracted.
If this is the case in your home, you may need to arrange for a damage contractor to perform a service called 'underpinning'; this involves fitting supportive components to re-stabilise the foundation and thus prevent any further structural problems from developing in the other areas of the property.
There are new cracks in the walls
If new cracks have formed in either the exterior or interior walls of your home, then this could potentially indicate that there is a problem with your foundation. These types of cracks can develop if a house's foundation can no longer support the weight of the structural framework. This can happen if the foundation sustains water damage (as a result of a water pipe bursting open, or broken guttering that directs rainwater towards the foundation instead of away from it), as the structural integrity of a concrete foundation can be compromised if it is saturated with moisture.
Severe water damage of this kind will usually cause the concrete to crumble. In this situation, your damage contractor may have to replace some or all of the foundation, before addressing the cracks in the walls.
Hi, my name is Damian and this is my damage contractor blog. When my house was badly damaged by a fire, the damage contractors helped me to demolish the parts of the building which could not be saved and to repair those rooms and floors which could be restored. I live in a very large house and it is my pride and joy. Not only did the fire cause damage, but so did the water used to extinguish the blaze. I am so impressed with the service provided to me by the damage contractors. I hope you like this blog.