Foundation Repair Contractor Observations

You can’t beat Tampa’s weather…year-round sunshine and mild winter temperatures. That’s why we live here! Living here may be ideal, but still there are challenges that are unique to Tampa, especially when it comes to your home’s foundation. One such challenge in a word, water! Water causes erosion, residual dampness, and higher humidity, all of which can play havoc with your foundation.

As a foundation repair contractor, we see first-hand how homeowners ignore possible foundation issues – which can lead to some hefty repair bills. Look at it this way – you strive to protect your investment in your home by maintaining its beauty and aesthetics. Your foundation plays an important role in protecting that investment. In addition to water (whether it be merely rain or hurricane flooding), Florida is home to all sorts of water-related issues, including sink holes that can pop up just about anywhere. Protecting your investment means keeping on top of any changes to your home or landscape. And note that the age of your home does not necessarily play a role in foundation issues. The elements can create problems in any home regardless of age.

Here are some symptoms to keep an eye out for.

• Strange odors erupting from your crawl space. It’s likely that something has taken up residency in your crawl space and has died. Another explanation can be because of water and dampness creating mold in the crawl space.
• Cracks or deterioration in the outer walls (a/k/a stem walls) that that can run in any direction, even in a stair-step shape. These outer walls sit directly on top of base structure of the home supporting the entire structure.
• Doors and windows that stick; cracks in the inner walls; and sloped floors are all signs of a foundation settling due to time or weather. This settling can be caused by shrinking soil beneath the foundation.
• Diagonal cracks in the corner of windows that run from the corner of the window upwards.
• Walls that have “pulled away” from the floor or ceiling leaving gaps.
• Front porches or stoops that have started sloping. Again, this can be caused by water damage and soil erosion.

What to do if you see any of these signs? Simple. Call a professional foundation repair contractor/inspector. And don’t despair and feel that you need to walk away from a home showing signs of foundation issues. Foundations can be fixed!

Take for instance, the most famous foundation issue – the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Its foundation was too shallow coupled with unstable soil and, well, you know the rest! Granted, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is in Italy not Florida, it’s just a prime example of a foundation “gone bad.” The good news though is that the tower’s foundation was stabilized, and now it’s still standing after all these years.

Call us today and have one of our structural engineers inspect your foundation before any further damage (or leaning) ensues!