There are many benefits to owning a home, but it also comes with responsibilities. From renovating your space or maintaining the property – there is much more work than you might be initially aware of before purchasing your first house.
While some maintenance may be minor, such as cleaning the gutters or mowing the lawn, the forefront of home maintenance should always be safety. You want your home to be a safe space for you, your family, and your guests to enjoy.
That is why foundation repair is so critical. Ignoring problems with your home’s foundation can compromise the integrity of your house. Not only that but the longer you ignore them, the more expensive the repairs can become.
Here are the top 8 reasons why you shouldn’t put off repairing foundation issues:
1. The Longer You Wait, The Worse it Gets
A weakened foundation can lead to more extensive damages. The effect of these damaged areas might be so severe that the structure it was meant to support becomes strained and stressed.
This is why a weak or unsteady foundation should never go unchecked- because from ceilings, walls, window frames, and attached garages – any damage will only become worse if left unchecked for too long.
2. Repairs Get More Costly Over Time
Since foundation issues can spread to all areas of your home, the longer you wait to fix them, the more expensive the repairs become. With foundation repairs, you need to act as quickly as possible once you spot any signs, such as foundation cracks.
3. Water Damage
Cracks in your foundation, or cracks in walls, by windows, or in chimneys that are caused by foundation issues can lead to water leaking into your home. It’s likely that the water seeps into your house discreetly before even being discovered, which is why you should always keep an eye out for signs of water in your basement.
4. Mold and Mildew
If moisture leaks in or the basement floods during storms, your foundation can shift or settle, and your basement can develop mold and other health hazards.
Unfortunately, mold isn’t something you can ignore or wish away. Mold in your home can cause headaches, stuffy noses, irritate airways, and a number of other allergic reactions. It can also cause structural damage to the material it lives on, weakening walls and causing saggy floor joists.
Mold remediation can eliminate mold in the short term, but unless the reason that it was there in the first place is eliminated, there’s nothing stopping house mold from returning.
5. Insect Infestation
Do you know what else likes warm, damp spaces? Insects. When you put off fixing the foundation of your home, you also risk infestations. Once these creepy-crawlies are inside cracks, they build mud tunnels. Through extensive use, the tunnels get widened. This exerts pressure on the foundation cracks, causing the structure to weaken further.
In the case of concrete foundations, the more immediate risk is to the components that are adjacent to the foundation itself, such as wood floor joists and pier-and-beam foundations made from wood.
6. Plumbing Problems
The foundation of your house is just as important to the plumbing in it. Ignoring any issues with its base can lead to a variety of other problems, like pipes breaking and flooding from water pressure or lack thereof.
A well-maintained concrete foundation will ensure there are no plumbing errors within our homes – so don’t let negligence take over before it’s too late!
7. Increase in Utility Bills
When foundation problems occur, your house is essentially shifting on the ground below it. That’s why we suggest looking for cracks, newly jammed doors, or windows that stop opening and closing properly. These shifts can also cause air leakage, which in turn will slowly inch up your heating and cooling bills. Fixing your foundation can actually benefit your energy usage and lower your utility payments!
8. Reduced Property Value
A damaged foundation can be a major problem when it comes to selling your house. This is because home buyers will insist on getting their own inspection of the property, and this could lead them towards discovering any structural problems that may exist in what you think should be an otherwise perfect buy!
Repair Your Foundation Today!
Dry Basement® Foundation Repair knows that a one-size-fits-all repair system doesn’t work for most homeowners. That’s why we engineered systems that can be tailored for the soil conditions, location, type of house, and other factors at each unique property.
Our estimators have been trained and certified by licensed structural engineers. They will talk with you, examine your foundation, and develop the best configuration to permanently solve your particular foundation problem.