Remember to Water Your...Foundation
Are you noticing new cracks in your walls? What about doors or windows that suddenly won't open or close properly?
If the image above looks familiar, you may have foundation issues!
This is the time of year in north Texas when many people start noticing signs that their foundation is settling. Cracks in interior walls (especially diagonal cracks above doors and windows), jagged cracks in exterior walls, doors that won't open or close properly, windows that won't open or close properly, separation of expansion joints in exterior walls, and even visible cracks in the floor are all signs that your house is moving. The million dollar question is: Does this mean you have foundation trouble?
Whether you have a pier and beam foundation or a slab foundation, most of us in Dallas/Ft. Worth are susceptible to foundation problems thanks to our soils. For this post, I am going to assume most people have a slab foundation, and I will talk mostly from the vantage point of owning a slab foundation.
Why DFW Has Foundation Issues
The first thing you should understand about foundation issues is the reason they are so prevalent in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Many eons ago, the entire metroplex was at the bottom of a sea. When the sea dried up, the remnants of marine life formed the soils that we currently have. This soil is primarily clay, which means it tends to expand and shrink based on its water content. When it rains, clay soils tend to hold water and expand. Then when the water evaporates (as is often the case during summer months) or is used by plants, the soils tend to shrink. It is this constant expanding and shrinking of the soil that causes foundations to shift and settle.
How to Tell if You Have Foundation Issues
Back to the question of how to know whether or not you have foundation issues. First, you almost certainly won't be able to tell just by looking. Yes, cracks and misaligned doors are signs of foundation issues, but they do not necessarily mean you have them!
Sometimes houses will settle a little creating those minor cracks and door problems, but the foundation may still be functioning as it should. The only sure-fire way to know is to have an engineer take measurements. If you have cracks in your walls large enough to insert a pencil eraser, there is a high likelihood that you do have foundation trouble, but again, the only way to be certain is to have a professional assess it.
Who should you contact to assess your foundation? There are zillions of foundation repair companies in our area, and almost all of them will come do a free assessment. HOWEVER, I highly recommend hiring a neutral structural engineer. In my experience as a Realtor and real estate investor, I have seen numerous occasions where a foundation company did an assessment and recommended repairs, only for the repairs to create more problems than they fixed (more about that in just a moment).
An independent structural engineer will cost anywhere from $600-$1000 for most residential properties, but the price is absolutely worth it. They will tell you straight up whether or not you have foundation trouble because they have no vested interest in you purchasing a repair from them.
Why not just visually inspect your house yourself and make your own judgment? Because I have seen countless times when I thought a visual sign such as a crack meant there was foundation trouble only to have an engineer take measurements and tell me that the foundation is still performing as it should and no repairs should be done. I have also seen instances where I thought minor cracks were not a problem, but the engineer ended up recommending repairs.
In short, the only way to know for sure is to hire a professional engineer. An engineer will come out and take laser measurements throughout your home in order to get a comprehensive view of how your foundation is performing. I have seen instances where foundations are unlevel, but according to the engineer they are still performing as they should. A good engineer will only recommend repairs if they believe there is risk of significant structural damage.
Risks of Repairing a Foundation
You may be wondering what the harm is of installing piers on a slab foundation if it is still performing appropriately. As I mentioned a moment ago, sometimes repairing a foundation can cause damage. Why?
When a foundation company installs piers in one area of a home, they are effectively preventing that area of the home from moving any further. If other parts of the house have flexibility to continue to move, this can create more stress on the foundation, which can result in structural instability. In other words, larger cracks may appear, and the areas of the foundation that haven't been repaired may now stop performing as well.
Additionally, anytime the foundation moves, there is a risk of plumbing leaks forming. Most modern homes are plumbed with PVC and copper, which are somewhat flexible, but there is a limit to their flexibility. If pipes are moved too much, they can crack and break, especially pipes located in the foundation itself.
Then there is the risk that other aspects of the home could be damaged. For the same reason that doors and windows sometimes stop working when a foundation shifts due to moisture levels, they can also stop working when the foundation shifts due to repairs.
In short, you only want to repair a foundation when it is absolutely necessary. Again, this is why I highly recommend hiring an independent structural engineer to assess your foundation!
Protecting Your Foundation
Now that we've talked about why we have foundation issues in Dallas/Ft. Worth and how to assess whether or not we actually have issues with our individual homes, let's talk about how to protect your foundation. Since moisture levels are at the root of foundation problems, moisture levels are also the solution. The key is maintaining a relatively constant level of moisture in the soil around your foundation.
The first thing to do around your home is to make sure your yard has proper drainage around your foundation. Ideally, the soil should slope slightly away from your foundation all the way around your house. What you don't want is for water to pool around your foundation. If you have areas where water tends to pool and other areas where it doesn't, the moisture levels will differ around your home causing the soil to expand and shrink differently from area to area, which can result in structural instability.
In addition to proper drainage, you want to make sure the moisture level stays as constant as possible all the way around the perimeter of your home. When we are in seasons when we are getting plenty of rain, this isn't an issue. But, in dryer seasons (i.e. summer months), this can be a challenge.
The best solution is to run either a soaker hose or drip irrigation line all the way around your home about a foot away from your foundation (the water will spread toward your foundation). Depending on the amount of shade your home gets, you may have to turn on that irrigation line two or three hours a day when drought conditions persist.
One way you can assess the moisture level is to take a screwdriver and walk around the perimeter of your home sticking it in the ground in various places. If the ground is hard or if the screwdriver comes out of the ground dry, this is a sign that you need more moisture.
Sometimes you may notice that certain areas seem to retain moisture better than others. If so, you might have to run water in the neediest areas a little longer.
Conclusion
To reiterate, foundation problems are common in Dallas and Fort Worth. The key to maintaining structural integrity in your foundation is to keep the moisture levels constant around your home.
While some people in DFW have sandy or rocky soil that will never present foundation trouble, most of us have clay soil, which can create problems. If you are unsure, have an engineer come do an assessment. The money you spend could save you thousands of dollars in repairs later on.