Foundation Repair

Vapor barriers play a crucial part in protecting your foundation. Charlotte, NC has humid subtropical weather, meaning that there’s a lot of rain and humidity for the better part of the year. Without the right waterproofing solutions in place, your foundation will deteriorate thanks to how destructive water can be. A vapor barrier helps mitigate the damage, but it’s not all that’s needed to stop foundation settling. 

What a Vapor Barrier Can Do 

A vapor barrier keeps water out of your foundation. This helps prevent soil erosion, especially if you have a dirt crawl space. Without a vapor barrier, the soil around the support posts in the crawl space would erode, causing settling, which affects the entire house. Vapor barriers also prevent the materials in the crawl space from getting torn apart from the freeze-thaw effect. 

How to Stop Foundation Settling 

Besides a vapor barrier, you will need a crawl space sump pump, a perimeter drain, and a dehumidifier. All these things work together to protect your crawl space, prevent foundation deterioration, and keep your home healthy. A vapor barrier works wonders on its own, but without the other waterproofing solutions, your crawl space is vulnerable to things like condensation and frost heave damage. 

Besides just making sure that your crawl space can handle water, you also need to make sure that as little water as possible is flowing towards it in the first place. You can do this by making certain alterations, such as pointing your downspouts away from your home or extending them. Make sure to also watch for clogging, especially during the fall and winter, when drains get clogged due to mud and leaves or they simply freeze over.

Any form of structural damage in your home can become worse, especially if left alone for a long time. Although concrete is strong, it is not the perfect material. It still requires some annual maintenance from a local expert. This allows it to be inspected every once and a while, as well as repaired when it needs to be. 

Structural Damages 

Once a crack has formed on your foundation wall, it always has the potential to grow larger and wider, especially if left alone. Cracks in foundation walls can extend to foundation floors, and, after years and years of neglect, they can even reach other areas of your home. You do not want this to happen to you, as structural damage in more than one area can be dangerous. 

Structural damage also can cause your home to become uneven as well. This can happen via sinking, heaving, or tilting, depending on where the damage is found and how bad it is. Not only is this incredibly unsightly, but also this can make your home unsafe to inhabit. 

Water Damages 

Any opening in your foundation wall is an invitation for water to enter through. Water damage is quite common and can be one of the most expensive damages to repair. Some of these include:  

• Mold and mildew 
• Wood rot 
• Musty odors 
• Water stains  

Leaks and floods also can introduce pests, both big and small. Many common insect pests are attracted to wet, humid environments, and cracks in foundation walls are the perfect way for them to enter your home. Larger pests, such as rodents, also can be tempted to enter your home through any available openings. 

There are three main options that are offered by Dry Pro Foundation and Crawl Space Specialists: the IntelliBrace™ Wall Repair System, the Channel Anchor System, and the Wall Anchor System. Read on to figure out the differences between them to help you select the one that best fits your needs. 

IntelliBrace™ Wall Repair System 

When it comes down to it, the main difference between the three foundation wall repair systems depends on the amount of landscape space that you have around your home. For homeowners who have a limited landscape space, the IntelliBrace™ Wall Repair System is likely the best option for repairing cracks in your foundation walls, since it is non-invasive to your home. In fact, it is installed directly on the inside of your foundation walls, without any excavation needed! 

Homeowners also do not need to worry about altering the look of their foundation walls or basement space, however. The IntelliBrace™ uses a very sleek metal beam that is coated with zinc to help it be extremely resistant to the formation of rust. Furthermore, it is not bulky at all, so you do not have to be concerned about how much space it takes. Once the IntelliBrace™ System is installed, it easily looks as if it has always been a part of your foundation wall but with extra benefits of stability, strength, and wall repair! 

Channel and Wall Anchor System 

Both the Channel and the Wall Anchor Systems are able to provide an intense amount of support for your foundation walls, helping them to remain stable and even repairing them over time. Unlike the IntelliBrace™ Wall Repair System, however, both Anchor Systems require our experts to drill holes around your property for installation. This is needed to properly place the anchor systems underground. Therefore, these two options work best for homeowners who have plenty of room in front of their landscaping to have them installed adequately. 

The beams of the Channel and Wall Anchor Systems are constructed from a rust and corrosion resistant metal, so you are guaranteed to have them last a long time underground. These systems use the principle of an “equal but opposite force” against the problematic soil phenomena that occur because of the rainy and windy Charlotte, NC climate. 

Cracked bricks are a sign of advanced settling since it indicates that the house can no longer withstand the weight of the uneven home. It causes major trouble for the structural integrity of your house.  

• Why Replacing Isn’t a Viable Solution 

Replacing your foundation isn’t a helpful solution for a few reasons: it’s extremely expensive, inconvenient, time-consuming, and your foundation will go through the same problem again in the future. To replace your foundation and build a new one would mean having to excavate around the entire house, put the house up on temporary supports, tearing the foundation apart, and then building a new foundation. This can take multiple days or weeks, and you will have to live somewhere else until the job is done. 

After the new foundation is built, it will settle once more after a few years because the real problem, the soil, has not been addressed. If there is a layer of soil under the foundation, there will be erosion. The only way to stop it is to make sure that the foundation is no longer supported only by the soil. 

• What Can Be Done Instead 

Instead of replacing the foundation, you can stabilize the settling one by installing helical or push piers. Helical piers and push piers are steel rods that are installed deep underground. They transfer the weight of the house to the stable, load-bearing soil layers below. These soil layers are so deep underground that they do not erode as easily as the loose soil layers near your foundation. 

By relying on the piers and the tough soil, your foundation is guaranteed to be supported by a system that never fails. Helical and push piers also can lift your foundation and even out your home. Once the house is even again, not only will the foundation no longer settle but also your bricks will no longer crack as well. 

Once your foundation wall repairs have been completed, you will want to start considering how to protect your foundation in the future. This is crucial to prevent destabilizing factors, such as moisture, from ever becoming a fundamental problem for your home again. Make sure you ask your professional contractor what means you can invest in to further protect your foundation walls in the future. 

Invest in Regular Home Inspections 

An inspection can take under an hour if your home receives annual check-ups, or it may take several hours during your first inspection. This allows the expert to fully check over your foundation, the surrounding area, your basement and crawl space, and other areas of your home. They will be looking for problem signs and subtle indicators of stress on your foundation. This lets them catch problems early and apply small fixes to keep your home in top condition. 

Waterproofing Your Basement 

If you have undertaken and completed foundation repairs for bowing walls in your home, then investing in adequate waterproofing measures is crucial to further protecting your foundation walls. This also has the double advantage of increasing the lifespan of the newly installed wall anchors. 

Both sump pumps and dehumidifiers used in conjunction with one another after foundation repairs are a great (and common) way to protect your foundation walls. These also can be used in conjunction with interior drainage systems to carry unwanted water away from your foundation walls. 

Making Mistakes During Installation 

If you attempt to repair your own foundation walls, then there is a high chance that you won’t be able to access the same industry gear and equipment used to work on these projects. Even if you can, these solutions often require a great deal of experience to install properly. The most knowledgeable laymen can still make an honest mistake, and, in the realm of foundation damage, this can be catastrophic. 

For example, wall anchors are difficult to install properly. If you install a wall anchor only halfway, then you might leave assuming that your home is safe from further foundation damage, when, it is not. Foundation damage that is allowed to fester will only get worse over time. If you make mistakes during the DIY foundation repairs, then in a few months time, you might be looking at more serious problem of foundation sinking. 

Money Losses 

Repairing damaged foundation walls or structural supports on your own is a very costly endeavor. It involves getting your hands on effective wall anchors or braces, having the correct tools to install them, and having the correct materials to repair cracks and leakages that could be compounding the problem.  

The lack of industry connections on the part of the average homeowner means that repairing foundation damage on your own can turn out to be much more costly than having a professional service do the job for you. Moreover, if you make mistakes during your DIY repairs that lead to even more serious issues, you will have to hire a professional service to first fix your DIY repairs and then install repairs of their own. This might compound the costs to much more than it would have been had you avoided DIY repairs altogether.