In a perfect world, everyone has great health, a job they love, an adorable family, and their home’s foundation never settles. Unfortunately, here in the real world, the need for foundation stabilization is pretty common. But how do you know if your foundation needs to be stabilized? Here’s a quick look at the most common signs of foundation settling that Rochester homeowners should watch for.
Telltale Signs Your Home's Foundation is Settling
- Diagonal cracks on interior walls. As your foundation settles, it creates pressure that often causes cracks to appear in your walls, typically starting near door or window corners. You may also notice vertical cracks forming between drywall sheets where one settles more.
- Sticking doors or windows, or doors that fail to latch. When a door or window sticks or fails to latch, it’s because the frame has come out of square. This means that it’s less wide than it was, causing the door or window to bind up, or the latch to no longer line up.
- Cracks in exterior finish. If you have bricks or stucco, this is an easy and obvious sign, but for other types of exterior finish, you’ll need to look at your trim instead. As settling occurs, bricks lose support and will form cracks, as will stucco.
- Gaps in exterior or interior trim. When there are gaps that form between where your siding trim or interior trim meets windows or doors, it means that the wall has shifted. This is often paired with sticking doors and windows, or doors that fail to latch properly.
- Cracks along foundation wall blocks. As one of the first signs that you may see, cracks on your basement walls in the foundation blocks are fairly easy to spot. If you notice them, get in touch with foundation stabilization professionals ASAP.
By keeping an eye out for these signs of foundation settling, you can stay on top of the problem and have it fixed with carbon fiber strapping and similar techniques that offer significant savings over rebuilding your foundation walls. If you need help stabilizing your home’s foundation, or want to learn more about the signs of foundation settling in your Rochester home, the experienced professionals at Storm Basement Waterproofing are here for you. Please feel free to reach out to our friendly Rochester foundation repair team today to get started.
