Oh gosh…another case of DIY gone bad, really bad. Don’t get us wrong, DIY can go really well – it all depends on the difficulty level of the project. And, well, foundations aren’t on the easy end of the DIY scale. In fact, they’re on the opposite end – the hard end!
Case in point. We recently did a foundation inspection. Unfortunately the owner decided to try to fix it himself. Like we just said, foundation repair isn’t for amateurs. Check out the photo with the 4 x 4 posts he placed to prop up the floor framing.
Now, look at the rest of the photos we took.
If you were to crawl under your house and saw what these photos are illustrating, would you even consider fixing it yourself? Would you even know where to start? We hope your answer is a resounding “NO”! Sometimes the allure of saving some money by doing it yourself is going to end up costing you a lot more in the end. That’s why there are professionals who know how to do it right – the first time!
Still not convinced? Look at it this way. Your foundation is just that – the foundation that holds up your home. You saw some signs (wall cracks, doors that won’t close, walls that are bowing, etc.) that told you that you had foundation issues, but can you tell how damaged the foundation really is? Do you want to take the chance tinkering with the value of your home? Trust us, inspectors will instantly know the difference between a professional job and a DIY repair. And you guessed it; a DIY repair will affect the overall value of your home adversely.
We could go on and on and give you a million reasons not to even try to fix your home’s foundation. Just know that you can (and probably will) damage your home further and maybe even injure yourself in the process.
