What Causes My Home’s Foundation To Sink Or Move?
It’s hard to understate just how important a house’s foundation is. The foundation is the load-bearing portion of your home that sits just beneath the ground, keeping the whole structure level and firm. A shift now and then is common enough as the soil below and around your home settles, but any movement more dramatic than that and the integrity of the whole house is at risk.
What causes a home’s foundation to sink, then? Well, there is no shortage of reasons and conditions that can cause structural damage to your home’s foundation, but the major players at the top of it all are climate and geography. Weather events and how the soil in which your house is sitting reacts to them are the root of all foundation issues, and your preventive efforts and timely maintenance will keep your home standing.
While there are different types of foundations (which vary depending on the region), here are some of the most common reasons why foundation sinking happen.
Reasons Why Your Foundation Is Sinking
You might already know that it’s normal for homes to settle into the ground as the soil beneath them shifts or expands depending on the moisture conditions of where you live. Then again, there’s normal shifting, and there’s problematic sinking. The latter is usually caused by soil erosion, which comes from heavy rains or snow (in some parts of the country) or flash floods.
Another probable reason might be that your home sits at a drainage point, where the water naturally flows down from hills or through valleys. Here, the soil around your home can become oversaturated with water and become soft, causing further sinking. On the other hand, it might be that your home might not have good drainage around its foundation, causing it to get too humid and sink over time.
As you can see, humidity and how the soil around your home reacts to it is a major player in how much your house settles into the ground. Make sure that, if any of the scenarios above apply to your house, have proper measures set up to protect your home from sinking or from getting your foundation damaged.
Finally, another reason why your foundation is sinking might just be due to the age of the structure. Unless your foundation is made of poured concrete, it’s probably made of materials like brick, blocks, or stone. These are held together by mortar, and while this makes for a very strong foundation, the mortar can become weak with age and because of the pressure from the soil surrounding your entire home.
Warning Signs That Your Foundation Might Be Sinking
Cracks In The Foundation
Perhaps the most notable sign of a sinking foundation across all types and regions is that cracks are likely to appear along the foundation either on your interior walls or floors. For homes that sit on concrete slab foundations (or crawl spaces), cracks might be harder to spot at the beginning when they’re easier to handle, so you might want to schedule regular inspections to detect them early.
While not all cracks are a sign of alarm, since some of them are bound to appear as your house naturally settles, you should give a professional repair service a call if you spot cracks that are wider than one-tenth of an inch or ones that grow in size in a short period of time. A foundation repair expert will know how to assess the severity of the cracks and determine whether they indicate a more serious problem with your home’s foundation. They would also know the best repair method for not only the cracks but the optimal solution to fix your sinking foundation entirely.
Bulging Patches Of Lawn Or Concrete
The outward pressure created by a sinking foundation can cause problems for your lawn or yard. These might manifest as small, bulging mounds popping up close to your house. Not only are these bulging mounds unseemly, they can wreak havoc on a flower patch or vegetable garden.
If you have a paved yard, a sinking foundation can create gaps between the floor around your exterior walls on one side and on the other side, causing the pavement to rise unevenly and crack. Either of the scenarios described above is a clear sign that your house is shifting too much into one side, and you need to take action soon.
Uneven Floors In Your Home
The troubles caused by a sinking foundation don’t stop outside. On the inside, you might start to notice that the floor is uneven (this is particularly noticeable in the doorway between each room, as it might be separating two different types of flooring). To make sure, you can use a bubble level where the floor from both rooms meets or by placing a marble dead center on the floor and see if it “sinks” in a section of the floor.
Opening Doors And Windows Is Difficult
For this sign, you want to verify that the door or window you’re having trouble with is not hard to open or close because of an unrelated reason, such as rusted hinges or blockage. Once you’ve made sure that the door or window should be opening correctly yet offers resistance or feels “sticky,” you can begin to worry. This is caused by high humidity levels that cause the wood to swell or because the excessive setting of the home’s foundation is causing the angles of the frame or hinges to become crooked.
When To Get Help If You Have Foundation Problems
If you notice that your foundation is sinking beyond what’s described above as “normal,” then it’s time to call an expert to help. You mustn’t ignore the problem and call a professional company since they might need to do more than one inspection to fully assess the issue and offer you the most appropriate solution.
A sinking home is not a problem you want to put off. If you see cracks, the ground next to your home feels excessively damp, or notice any other signs of foundation sinking, make sure to call if you need foundation repair services!
