Your home is your castle, but is your castle built on stone or sand? Though your foundation is required per codes to meet particular standards, that doesn’t mean that changes in the environment around your home will keep your foundation at that standard.
Heavy rain, flooding, heavy snowmelt, underground waterways, and more can all cause problems with the stability of your foundation. Once your foundation begins to shift, it can cause significant issues with your home as a whole. In this article, we’ll discuss how foundation stabilization for your Henrietta home can arrest that movement to keep it from further motion and damage.
How Foundation Stabilization Keeps Your Home Secure
What is Foundation Stabilization?
Let’s start by defining what foundation stabilization means. Foundation stabilization is a repair process to make your home more stable to prevent further movement in the future. Think about it this way – if part of your floor was sinking, you could add a pier to lift that part of the floor.
However, it doesn’t fix the ground that is subsiding under your floor, so you may have to lift that section of floor over and over again. Foundation stabilization is focused on not only fixing the sunken part of the floor, but also on keeping the ground from subsiding again. This means you get a permanent solution unless something else changes around your foundation.
How is Foundation Stabilization Different from Leveling?
In our above scenario, leveling is the process of adding a pier to your floor to get rid of the surface appearance of sinking. It solves the immediate problem, but there’s a good chance that you’re going to have to spend money on the same problem down the road.
By comparison, foundation stabilization fixes the ground beneath the floor. It uses carbon fiber to hold the foundation in place so that it can’t continue to sink or displace, preventing the issue from getting any worse. In many situations, you want to both correct the sinking of the floor as well as the foundational issues beneath it.
What are the Benefits of Foundation Stabilization?
There are a wide range of benefits for your Henrietta home that that foundation stabilization can provide, such as:
- Increased home value. A home with a stable, strong, well-maintained foundation has a higher value on the market, increasing your return on your investment when you decide it’s time to sell your home.
- Enhanced home comfort and safety. Shifting or settling in your foundation can cause cracks in your walls and ceilings. This can create issues with mold and moisture in hard-to-reach places. Similarly, uneven floors can cause trip and fall accidents.
- Prevention of costly structural problems. Stabilizing your foundation prevents it from settling and causing structural damage. As foundations shift and crack over time, you can have issues with doors and windows operating properly, as well as trim and wall issues.
- Improved energy efficiency. When your foundation settles, it opens up small cracks that allow air to enter your home. This compromised state in your walls and foundation can cost you significantly through higher utility bills.
- Peace of mind. Knowing that your home is sturdy, stable, and durable, you gain peace of mind. This allows you to enjoy your home without having to worry about structural failures, cracks, shifts, and other issues.
- Protection from moisture and water problems. The same cracks that allow air to penetrate your home, bypassing your insulation and wall systems, can also allow water to collect inside your home. This can lead to mold and mildew issues that can impact your health.
Foundation shifting can start out very subtly, but can cause dramatic issues in your home. If you’ve noticed cracking walls or popping tiles, sticking or loose windows or doors, or cracks in your brick or tile work, it’s important to take action quickly, before the problem gets worse. By taking the time to have foundation stabilization performed at the first sign of settling or damage, you can ensure that your home remains secure, functional, and stable for many years to come.
If you are concerned about your foundation, Storm Basement Waterproofing's expert repair contractors in Henrietta, NY provide foundation stabilization services and are here to help. We’ll go over your foundation and find the source of the problems, then stabilize your foundation to stop the problem in its tracks. If you’re ready to get started, why not contact us today?