Water accumulating around your foundation can damage even newer foundations.

Surface water should never be allowed to collect right around your house outside walls. When raining season begins right after a rain storm inspect the ground surrounding your house. You want to make sure no ponds are forming within at least two yards from the outside walls.

If the water is not draining this can be easily corrected by grading the area to form a slight slope away from the house. Also downspouts should be directed away form the foundation of the house and discharge at least  3-4’ away from the house.

Tags: Drainage, Foundation Care, Water Damage, Watering
Posted in Foundation Information, House Maintenance, Landscape | No Comments »

This photo seems at first to have nothing to do with foundations, but in reality it shows a very significant cause of what goes on when a house is settling.

Please do yourself the favor of taking a few moments to read this. It is very important recent news that may affect your foundation… 

We took this photo just a few days ago, it shows what can happen when a yard does not get the amount of water it’s used to. This homeowner went looking for a foundation company when the walls in her house started showing new cracking in July. What she didn’t know until we got there and showed her was that having dialed her water usage back about a month ago, the soil of the yard had contracted as it dried out from lack of its usual watering schedule. This in turn created gapping at the ends of the landscaping not only next to the city sidewalk but also next to the house itself.

Recent water restrictions can damage your foundation! This is a word of advice, there is easily preventable damage that can be avoided by taking a few common sense steps that will allow you to follow the guidelines of water usage and yet do so in a way that keeps your house from being adversely affected by it.

As you are likely aware, recent water usage restrictions have been put into effect that drastically reduce the liberty to water your yard as you see fit.  There is a hidden downside to this that can create new foundation problems and it is for that reason that we are sending you this message.

Simply put, cared for landscaping adjacent to a house that is used to getting the correct amount of water includes the factor of having the soil in that area contain a relatively steady level of moisture in it. This tends to keep the soil from drying out too much which in some types of soil could otherwise allow for soil contraction to occur. Combined with the recent high humidity, greatly reducing or even eliminating the watering of landscaping near the home is causing issues to “activate” that until recently had not been present.  When the soil next to the outside of the house shrinks, it allows room for the soil next to it to contract and the foundation walls can then shift towards that newly created gapping. This is enough to cause the house to display new issues.  We typically inspect several foundations a day in various parts of Los Angeles county and over these past weeks, there has been a distinct rise in the amount of situations where new clients that are calling for inspections are speaking of things happening in houses that seem to have “suddenly started”. One for one, we have found altered watering schedules to be the single common denominator of all of these issues. Where this pertains to you is that if you have reduced the watering of the foliage areas adjacent to your home, new manifestations may begin to appear. These would be things in the home like cracks in walls, sticking doors, floor seams showing separation, etc.  We go from house to house, all day every day, looking at various occurrences and so are extremely in tune to why these things occur.  Having an external force such as the water municipality introduce a variable into the existing “recipe” of a workable watering schedule is a concern. This is a change that they do not likely even realize can cause foundation issues that would not otherwise have occurred.

We are not advocating that you ignore the restrictions but rather that you alter your watering scheduling to ensure that the landscaping closest to the house gets the closest to its “previously normal” watering program and that the further from the house an area of the yard is, the less relevant it is to the foundation.

We hope this information is helpful to you, please do pass it on to others you know who may otherwise experience similar issues. Specific recommendations can be found at www.bewaterwise.com as to how to go about tuning your particular yard watering to find a happy medium that both reduces water usage and keeps the house from damage. Our objective is to help your house have a healthy foundation and a big part of that objective is preventative care such as described above.

Tags: basement, Dry Soil, foundation, Foundation Damage
Posted in Foundation Information, House Maintenance, Landscape | No Comments »

TRUE: All legally permitted houses built after 1936 in the City of Los Angeles and most surrounding cities are “bolted” to their foundations.

FALSE:  Those bolts are in the same condition now as they were when installed…

Having crawled under 1,000’s of houses and seeing many interesting sights during those “adventures”, above is a photo of something that we see all too often. This is one of a series of failed anchor bolts in a “bolted” house built in the late 1930’s.

There are several key points in the photo. First, and most obvious, the rusted anchor bolt was removed by simply lifting it out of the piece of wood that was originally anchoring it down to the foundation. No tools required, it just came right out. Secondly, notice the chunks of concrete lying in the dirt below. This is the cracked foundation created by the expansive pressure of the rusting metal over time. Why? Water coming through from the exterior over time.  Next you’ll notice the white chalkiness on the concrete, this is the mineral deposits that water has pulled out of the concrete foundation, further weakening it.  On the ground you can see the metal shards that once formed a perfectly good steel anchor bolt.

If you’re not sure of the status of what’s holding your house down, we can come out and perform a fast, honest, and accurate evaluation of your foundation system and can tailor a prescription to bring your home up to current standards seismically.

Tags: basement, Earthquake Retrifitting, foundation, foundation repair, Foundation Upgrade, House Bolting
Posted in Foundation Information, House Maintenance | No Comments »

Cracks in the walls? There is darn near only one reason why that happens. Water!  The photo below shows multiple effects of water. Notice the water lines on the rear wall. Notice the supports that are now leaning. Notice the crack in the foundation. Notice the expansive soil. All of this could have been avoided if the soil had not gotten wet.  This is the time of year when properties without proper provisions for rain water runoff end up getting over-saturated and cracks start appearing in the walls. Inadequate drainage is far and away the chief cause of foundation settlement in older buildings and is often a very simple correction. The longer one waits to do it, the more exposed the foundation is to damage though.

We specialize in correcting all types of foundation issues and in most cases, these needed repairs come from a lack of a good drainage plan long-term.  You’ll often hear us calling for foundation corrections but then also reminding of the importance of drainage at the perimeter.  We’ve sent out similar messages before, and others may come in the future. In that for most of us, our home is our largest investment, this is a simple way to help you really protect yours well into the future!

Tags: Foundation Damage, foundation repair, wall crack, wall damage, walls
Posted in Foundation Information, House Maintenance, Walls and Interiors | 1 Comment »

What is it that makes a floor slowly drop out from under the wall it’s supposed to be holding up?

A thorough inspection of the foundation of this home revealed this simple but harmful chain of events:

1. Water was being collected from the roof by a set of rain gutters
2. The gutters were directing all of that water into downspouts which were in turn dumping it next to the rear of this house
3. The water was then flowing under the foundation and into the crawl space
4. The lowest spot of this flat lot property was under the floor heater
5. Once water began accumulating under the heater, the girder supports began to sink into the now muddy soil
6. That left a key piece of framing hanging in the air above the sunken support
7. The strain created by that missing support allowed the main girder to crack
8. The floor above it sank in accordance with the lack of support now present at that spot
9. The wall is actually now being held up by the ceiling framing above it

If your walls are cracking, doors are sticking, floors are shifting, house is creaking, or any similar event is unfolding at your home, have us come out and take the mystery out of it for you!

Tags: foundation repair, Foundation Upgrade, sinking floor, sinking wall, walls
Posted in Foundation Information, House Maintenance, Walls and Interiors | No Comments »

As many of you have no doubt heard me preach repeatedly, water is far and away the number one enemy of foundations in terms of the cumulative damage that it indiscriminately does to so many homes.  For that reason, I wanted to send out this timely reminder – as winter is again upon us – that any drainage corrections that can be done to your home are best done prior to the soil under the house getting wet again.

The photo above is a fine illustration of how much effect Mother Nature can create under a house.  In this particular home, and this is all too common, the expansive quality of the soil has heaved up when wet and contracted when dry and in so doing, left a large enough gap for a hand to easily fit into. This is meant to be a load bearing structural support and yet it is simply hanging in the air.  With the soil in the currently dry condition, this would be an appropriate time to adjust this support to fill the gap.  However, one must also then take care of whatever drainage issues led to the expansion and contraction in the first place.

If the walls of your house are cracking, it’s not “because they’re old”, they’re cracking because there is some moisture related issue still creating effect in the foundation area.  Our interest is in protecting your foundation well into the future and for that reason, this reminder comes to you to be sure that you follow through with any needed drainage corrections in order to accomplish that. We can recommend companies who perform such services or you can locate a competent one of your choosing, either way your house will thank you!

Tags: Drainage, Foundation Care, Foundation Damage, Water Damage
Posted in Foundation Information, House Maintenance, Walls and Interiors | No Comments »

As all of us and you roll right into a new year, resolutions should be plentiful. Traditionally, 1 January marks the ushering in of new resolve, the unearthing of past goals that have thus far eluded us, a chance to look forward, and overall it is a great time to decide the future rather than simply becoming a part of it.

Don’t forget to include your base of operation, your house, in this equation! That little opening in the side of your house leads to a whole other world and while it is right there underfoot every day, there may yet be things about it which you’d want to know. After crawling through 1000’s of these “underworlds”, we’re well honed in finding and eliminating the worst offenses in them, thereby extending the overall useful life of the foundation system as a whole. Your house will thank you!

Posted in General | No Comments »