How Do You Identify Foundation Settlement?

Hot and humid days are common for Middle Tennessee, but this summer has been exceptional. We’ve been experiencing drought season. Too much moisture is not good for the soil on which your home stands, however, no rain can cause the dirt to dry out too much and the foundation may settle.

Any signs of foundation issues should be addressed quickly to prevent the problem from getting worse and more expensive. After all, the foundation is what supports your whole house!

How to identify early signs of foundation problems?

Let’s start outside. Take a walk around your house and see if you notice any stair-step cracking on the foundation walls. If you’ve known about the cracks already and noticed they have gotten wider since the last time you looked at them, it means the wall is rotating outward. Now, look at your doors and windows. Are they out of square or separating from the framing? Do you see any cracks extending from the corners of doors or windows? Is there new caulking around windows or doors made by previous homeowners when they tried to fix the cracks themselves?

Look up. How does your chimney look? Is it separating away from the rest of the home? A chimney leaning off a house is one of the most common signs of the foundation settlement, often observed on old houses.

Now let’s take a tour of the interior of your home. Do you notice any doors sticking as you enter the house and walk from room to room? Did you have to plane them or replace locking mechanisms in the past? Let’s walk upstairs now, as that’s where drywall cracks often occur. Thoroughly inspect the walls around the windows and look for any cracks around drywall seams. If you see any drywall cracks off the corners of doors or buckling drywall tape, you should have your foundation inspected by a professional.

Why is all this happening to my house, you wonder?

Most of the houses in Tennessee are standing on clay soils. Wet clay holds the water and expands in size. During the time of drought, the lack of moisture in the soil causes the clay to dry out and shrink, creating an empty space for your home to settle into.

If you recognize any of the signs mentioned above, don’t panic! Frontier Foundation & Crawl Space Repair offers a variety of solutions for your unique situation.

Looking for foundation repair in Nashville, Clarksville, or Murfreesboro? Give us a call today!