Foundation Failure – Possible Causes
There are many reasons that foundations can fail – anything that causes a foundation to move can have a detrimental affect on it. Lateral pressure, and differential settlement (over total settlement), are two major categories of foundation failure, and are what cause homeowners to call in the foundation repair service.
Rather than focus on foundation failures, focusing on the causes of these failures is important. Knowing what to watch out for can help save a homeowner time and money, by knowing when to check the foundation for potential failure. There are several major causes of foundation failure – when these things happen around the home, it’s a good idea to check for any foundation cracks, holes, and uneven settlement.
Changes in Soil
Heavy rains can cause soil to swell, and, if not properly draining, can cause pressure on the foundation walls. After a time, the walls can start to crack, especially if drainage is not adequate – this is both a problem of erosion and hydrostatic pressure (from the weight of the water in the soil, pushing up against the foundation).
Wet soil is a major problem, but it’s not the only problem – drying soil, and drought-impacted soil can cause problems as well. When the soil gets too dry, it shrinks, and causes the foundation to shift back against it. This movement in the foundation can also cause cracks and shifts and lead to failure.
Frost Heaves
When the ground freezes in the winter, water beneath the soil becomes ice. The ice crystal growth causes the ground to shift, making “heaves” all over the landscape. Should this occur near, or under a foundation, it can cause a differential shift, causing the foundation to fail.
Erosion
Soil erosion from problematic plumbing, improper drainage, heavy rain, spring thaw, and the like can pull away at foundation walls, causing shifts, cracks, and foundation failure. Another problem that leads to erosion is improper ground preparation during construction. If not enough soil is used, or it is not packed properly, erosion can happen quickly around the foundation.
Vibrational Changes
Vibrational changes don’t need to be as dramatic as earthquakes in order to have an impact on foundation failure. Neighboring construction projects can cause enough vibrations to shake nearby foundations and the surrounding soil, causing failure.
Periodic inspections of the foundation walls and area are necessary to stay on top of any changes that can cause foundation failure. Even houses with the best drainage systems can fall prey to heavy rains and other causes listed above, which, if not handled early, can cost thousands to repair.
Prevention is always the best way to keep foundation failure from occurring. However, that is not always realistic. In that case, early detection is a must. A reliable foundation repair service can not only help homeowners spot these problems early, but fix them securely and help prevent repeat occurrences of such problems.
Choosing the Best Foundation Contractor
Whenever a homeowner faces the task of choosing a repair contractor for a service he has never needed before, how can he make a right choice? A slick presentation is not a criterion. But what is? How can he be as wise as possible in selecting one?
There very few foundation contractors that can handle settlement issues. Their business should be credible more than beautiful. But how can you tell?
Check for Licenses and Insurance
One doesn’t need a license to repair foundations. But a builder’s license is a good start in the right direction. Ask for it. It’s important to assure yourself that the contractor has workman’s compensation insurance. If not, and one of his employees gets hurt on the job, the liability for the incident could be your responsibility as the homeowner. Be sure that liability and workman’s comp coverage is in place.
Check with BBB
Call the Better Business Bureau. Check the complaints, if any, along with the frequency of complaints, types of issues, and whether the contractor responded promptly and credibly. Almost every business over time will have a complaint or two along the way. Study the pattern.
Verify the Contractor’s Experience
Ask about experience. Everyone has the right to try a business, but you’re not obligated to be a test case. Ask for customer references. Its even better if you can find others besides the ones he presents to you. Sometimes a quick Google Places search or visit to Yahoo! Local can give you some insight.
Ask an Engineer
Foundations are the most important element in the structure of your house. Often engineers get involved. They know who is out there doing quality repair work. They know the good ones and the other ones. They are a great resource to identify the better, or ever the best, contractors for your needs.
Check into their Repair Products
Is the contractor a supplier of a manufacturing pier company that designs and thoroughly tests their product? There are contractors that build piers at a job shop where there’s no testing, no assurance of quality materials, no certified welders, and no adequate design parameters. Get a properly manufactured pier.
Is the contractor a verifiably certified installer of the proven name brand pier? Credible suppliers certify and test their installers. You need one that, at least and preferably surpassed, all company requirements.
Does the supplier have a proven product, one that meets independent standards and codes? Will the product do what the installer and manufacturer says it will do? How can you know?
As of now, there is only one national standard for reliability. It was established in 2007 and called the ICCES AC358 Acceptance Criteria for Helical Foundation Systems and Devices. It is a rigorous, independent study that assures that you are getting exactly what the manufacturer claims. It can’t be over sold or misrepresented. Either you have it or you don’t.
Any contractor that can pass these criteria is not a “fly-by-night” operator and is worthy of your business.
Must Follow Tips When Hiring a Home Inspector
Hiring a home inspector may not be as easy as it sounds. Years ago, inspectors were not involved in residential real estate transactions. Instead, buyers could only rely on their own impressions about the home and representations from the seller’s agents. In the present-day, this has changed. Most real estate contracts allow the buyer to order professional inspections on the houses before the contract is sealed.
The right to have home inspections done comes with the challenge of hiring competent and diligent inspectors. Finding the right professional is not easy because, in many places, almost anyone with a flashlight, basic knowledge of the process, and an official-looking checklist can set up an office as a home inspector. The only outstanding exception to this free-for-all is the special skills required to carry out the inspection or the remediation work for potentially hazardous materials such as lead-based paint and asbestos.
To avoid such scams when hiring a home inspector, a competent real estate agent should be able and willing to recommend several professional, home inspectors with outstanding skills. The challenging part is choosing the best candidates from the recommended group. Here are six basic factors to put into consideration when doing this.
Qualifications and Professional Skills
When hiring a home inspector, ask open-ended questions as pertaining to the inspector’s experience and training. The inspector must have attained some training in the construction field and building maintenance standards. He must also have a clear track record of experience in the home inspection niche. Depending on the age of the house and its location, you may need to hire an inspector who has the necessary skills to deal with lead-based paint, asbestos and other potentially hazardous substances in homes. You may also need to hire professional experts such as a structural engineer or a geologist.
Access the Inspector’s Scope of Knowledge
Always inquire the components of property that are included in his or her home inspection exercise and which ones are not included. For instance, will the inspector check the swimming pool? How about the roof and other in-built appliances?
Go through the Inspector’s Sample report
Ask the home inspector to give you a sample of his or her inspections reports or checklists. Access what is included in the report; does it only include check-off boxes or does it have a narrative description. Is the information represented in a coherent and clear manner? Does the report note down any problems that signify presence of health hazards?
Ask for references
Asking for references is crucial when hiring a home inspector. Ask the inspector to provide you with contacts of some home owners who have previously used his or her services. Contact these home owners to know whether they were satisfied with the services and the report they received. Talk to people who have owned home for some months or longer because some problems that are overlooked by an inspector can take a bit longer to surface.
Inquire About Their Memberships
Most competent inspectors with a well established reputation may not belong to a state or national association. However, belonging to a national association can be a plus. This is because such groups offer training and certification programs to their members plus up-to date information concerning industry practices as well as inspection standards.
Inquire about the Company’s Policy as Pertaining to Errors and Omissions
Man is to error and even experienced professional experts in home inspection can overlook some problems or make errors that should have been noticed. Inquire about the company’s policy in such occurrences. Does the company have an insurance policy regarding omissions and errors? Does the company appoint an individual inspector to supervise and stand behind the whole report?
Following the above mentioned tips will help you sort through a list of candidates and increase your chances to hire a true professional.
Inspecting Older Homes Requires a Different Skill Set
A different set of standards is usually required when performing a home inspection on older houses as opposed to new construction. Risks that do not apply to newer structures are often found lurking around older properties. Changes over time can result in many threats to the integrity of the property that cannot be recognized except by a trained professional.
There may be small mounds of earth or exceptionally green areas of the lawn that represent the menace of abandoned wells and septic tanks. These can still sometimes be found on properties that were long ago hooked up to central water and sewer systems. A quick look at an electrical circuit breaker box and wiring might lead one to believe that everything is in order. Only a trained professional knows to look for aluminum wiring or a faulty design of circuit breakers banned from use several decades ago. On the surface, none of these hazards are obvious.
Yet they represent exactly the sort of structural risk that professional inspections catch. Nobody other than a highly-competent professional is expected to know that certain brands of siding and roofing were recalled long ago or that some models of smoke detectors are useless. Comprehensive inspections are not about checking the boxes on a form but about uncovering the risks hidden deep inside even the most solid-seeming structure. Thirty years of remodeling may disguise the original lead-based paint on the walls. There is no way of knowing just by looking at the current layer of latex paint, or even the five layers of latex paint underneath it. Few people even know how to begin looking for such a health risk.
This is not to say that every older home represents a lurking catastrophe. Many of them represent finer examples of enduring craftsmanship than newer models. The point is that a well-done inspection can save money on costly future repairs as well as ensure a family’s safety in their new home. Catching problems before closing on a house means that the previous owner gets to fix things that the new owners will then enjoy for years to come. In this regard, the services of a good home inspector more than pay for themselves, while the services of an unqualified one are simply a waste of money. In fact, a poor inspector is worse than useless, since they engender a false sense of security. Here is a quick checklist of things you need in a home inspector:
- Someone who is not in a hurry or afraid to get dirty. Most of the problems a home inspector needs to find are not in clean, easy-to-access parts of the house.
- Someone who is fully vetted on the hidden risks of housing construction. Many products that were used in good faith in the past have since been proven to be failures at their intended purposes.
- Someone who will fight for you. A good inspector is like a good umpire in baseball. He must call them like he sees them, regardless of how the realtors or loan companies want the home inspection to turn out.
The National Association of Certified Home Inspectors, Inc. (InterNACHI) has resources that can be invaluable to a home owner. Inspectors who are members of the InterNACHI and other associations must meet strict membership requirements and qualifications, including experience, training, professional affiliations and compliance with their state’s regulations. Starting with associations like InterNACHI is a great idea for home owners, and can assure that the home owner can hire the right Home Inspector and know the general principles, processes and requirements of a professional home inspection.
