Foundation Problems? Most Aren't

Cracks in the concrete foundation slab? Cracks in the corners of Windows? Cracked floor tile? It must be foundation problems, we'll fix it for ,000. That's what you'll hear from most Foundation repair companies. Most of the times, you will not have foundation problems.

There are straightforward truths about construction materials and their behavior in construction that any honest and knowledgeable structural engineer knows, and this is one of the keys to understand inherent foundation problems. For instance, concrete hardens with time, as it hardens it shrinks thus cracking. Concrete tends to develop and covenant with temperatures changes which supplementary causes cracking. This is commonly known as temperature and Shrinkage cracks - they have assuredly nothing to do with what every person company with foundation problems, which is in general the foundation shifting, absorbing up and down, due to expansion or settlement of the soil.

DRYWALL SETTLEMENT

What about Cracks in the floor tile? Tile is "glued" to the concrete slab, so any movement or crack that occurs in the slab will also occur in the tile, together with temperature and shrinkage cracks. Not because of foundation problems.

Cracks in the corners of doors and windows are very common, commonly caused by the material itself, gypsum board, which by the way, is also a concrete product, and it too cracks as it gets older. As it turns out, concrete doesn't like corners because the geometrical shape of a corner commonly creates stress concentration. Many residential and market foundations have chipped concrete right in the edges of the corners because this is naturally the way concrete behaves, this is just the material properties of concrete. With windows and doors you do have also wind pushing against the house, and even with a good structural engineer designing your house, more than likely you'll still fabricate a crack in the corner of windows and doors.

There's an inside joke among contractors and structural engineers and that is "the only thing we can warrant is that concrete will crack".

We're assuredly not suggesting that nobody has foundation problems but we are stating that most of the problems homeowners think of as foundation problems are in fact, not foundation problems. No foundation problems means no structural problems. The fix for such non structural foundation problems is patching, and sometimes there's no fix, such as in the case of temperature and shrinkage cracks in the foundation.

Therefore, it's leading to pick an experienced structural engineer, but most importantly, a structural engineer that doesn't offer foundation repair services. A structural engineer who works for a business that provides foundation repairs has an ample and inherent friction of interest. Our sense is that many times, these structural engineers treat everything as foundation problems and this may end up costing you several thousands of dollars with the ensue that your foundation will not be any better than it originally was.

If you have doubts about your foundation, just hire a structural engineer that doesn't offer repair services. He'll do a foundation inspection and will let you know what problems, if any, your foundation has. Also, make sure you check with your local board of professional engineers to ensure that the engineer you hire is in fact licensed to custom structural engineering.

Foundation Problems? Most Aren't

DRYWALL SETTLEMENT