A house foundation inspection involves several components. Before you get your foundation inspected, it’s good for you to know what is involved in the process.
Regardless of where you live, foundation inspection professionals use a well-defined process.
A House Inspection Involves 3 Things:
1. Meeting with a contractor
2. Having the contractor assess the health of your foundation
3. Having the contractor conduct a visual evaluation of your home, and the surrounding drainage, vegetation and slope.
The visual evaluation involves looking for signs of foundation damage.
7 Common Signs of Foundation Damage:
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Cracks
Cracks on the foundation or on walls or floors may indicate that your house has foundation issues. While tiny cracks are perfectly normal, those that are bigger than a ¼ inch may mean that your house is experiencing excessive movement.
When examining such cracks, the contractor will look at their placement and severity.
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Foundation Sinking or Settling
Settling is usually a common foundation problem. Foundation repair professionals will often install piers on the interior and exterior of the foundation to lift your home’s foundation.
Fractures resulting from foundation settlement may be horizontal, vertical or diagonal. If you fail to address this problem early, your foundation could end up sinking into the earth two to seven inches.
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Foundation Upheaval
Causes of foundation upheaval include under-slab plumbing leaks, excessive moisture due to rain, and soil expansion or contraction.
In most cases, moisture is the number one culprit. This may be from improper drainage or a plumbing leak. Plumbing leaks in the sewer line have no effect on your water bill and are hard to detect, yet cause immense damage to a concrete slab foundation.
On the other hand, a freshwater leak will usually result in puddling water outside the foundation. A freshwater leak can cause a house to heave and drop over twelve inches on one side.
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Improperly Functioning Doors
Sticky doors are often an indication that you have foundation problems. This is an issue that commonly affects all kinds of foundations.
Doors can also fail to function properly because of high humidity. However, this should be a problem that only lasts for a couple of days. Anything longer than this could mean foundation issues.
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Gaps
Gaps around exterior doors or around window frames could be signs of foundation issues. If you notice that your doors no longer latch properly, you must call a foundation repair specialist immediately.
French doors, in particular, won’t align properly. For example, the top right side of the door may be higher than the top left side.
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Uneven Floors
Dipping, bowing or sagging floors could indicate trouble. If it feels like you have to walk uphill in a room, you have a foundation problem.
Aside from being unsightly, uneven or sagging floors are dangerous as well. For this reason, it is important for you to call a professional foundation contractor immediately.
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Heavy Moisture
Perhaps your neighbors run their sprinkler too much, and the runoff puddles along your slab foundation.
What’s Involved in a Home Foundation Inspection
To look for all these signs of foundation issues, the foundation company representative will:
- Check for cracks in walls, ceilings, and floors, and take measurements using a Zip Level to determine how out of level your foundation is.
- Large trees near a house, have roots which will seek out under slab moisture during a drought. This leads to interior drying and floor slumping. You may need root barriers.
- Evaluate the exterior of your property. Here, they’ll look for cracks in your fascia boards, brick veneer, slab and other things.
After the specialist has completed checking signs of foundation damage, they will speak with you regarding the inspection. Based on our experience, it’s common for the contractor to recommend that no foundation repairs are required. It’s not uncommon for cracks to be cosmetic.
How much does a professional foundation repair inspection cost?
Most foundation repair contractors won’t charge you for inspecting your home’s foundation. However, this is assuming that no engineer is involved in the inspection process.
If you spot any of the signs, it’s important to have your home’s foundation inspected. Foundation inspections are non-invasive and non-destructive.
A competent foundation repair company knows what and where to look for these common problems. If you have concerns, contact us because we can give you solid information.
Does the size of my house affect the cost of foundation inspection?
The simple answer is no. It doesn’t, in any way, influence the amount that you’ll pay to have your foundation inspected. Most often, the inspection is free.
We’ll also scrutinize the property inside and outside to identify where the most destruction has occurred. After we do this, we’ll let you know the course of action that is necessary.
Generally, the inspection only takes about an hour to complete. If pier or drainage is required, we will show you the placement and in most cases provide an on the spot repair estimate.
Should foundation repair be required, most cities require a permit and an engineering report. The report for pre and post repair typically cost $450-$700. Granite can handle this as part of the total repair.
We offer our clients free foundation repair estimates. As such, there is nothing to lose if you choose to call Granite about your foundation concerns.
Act Now!
Give us a call today for a free estimate. We have a team of seasoned and qualified professionals whose only work is to fix foundation issues.
As a rule, we require homeowners to be present during the inspection. This allows us to properly evaluate your home since we’ll need to inspect the property inside and out. We may also ask you a few questions regarding the drainage and plumbing issues of your home that may have occurred in the past.
After the contractor has completed the inspection process, they will let you know if a report from an engineer is necessary or not. They will also give you a free foundation repair estimate. If an engineer’s report is required, rest assured that a good one will be recommended to you. Take the first step by giving us a call today at 972-412-2171 .