- My Doors and Windows are Sticking
- I Smell Mildew or Musty Odors
- My Crawlspace is Leaking
- My Basement Walls Leak
- My Basement Walls are Bowing
- My Foundation is Sinking
- I Have Cracks In My Walls
- I Don't Want Future Problems
The Problem: Sticking Doors and Windows
The Cause
- A sinking foundation
- Bowing basement walls
- Natural settling of a foundation
Your home really is an integrated system. Much like your car, when one part goes bad it can affect many others. In the case of sticking doors and windows, the problem may have nothing to do with poor hanging or installation. Instead, subtle warping in the walls of your home caused by a shifting foundation can may be responsible. If that is the case, then far more serious problems may arise in the future than the inconvenience of sticking doors and windows.
The Problem: Musty, Mildewy or Moldy Odors
The Cause
- Poor basement waterproofing
- Poor crawlspace waterproofing
- Cracks in your crawlspace
or basement walls - Poor basement drainage system
It has often been said that a man's home is his castle. In some cases that is more true than the inventors of that old cliche imagined. Like an old, leaky, poorly drained castle, your crumbling basement or crawlspace walls may be letting in moisture and providing a perfect breeding environment for all sorts of pungent microbes. In fact, your foundation may never have been properly waterproofed in the first place.
The Problem: A Leaky Crawlspace
The Cause
- A sinking foundation
- Soil expansion and contraction
- Poor waterproofing
- Poor drainage
In many ways your house is a large boat. Although it sits on "dry land," it doesn't take a home-owner long to realize that land isn't all that dry. This is especially true in rainy, marshy northwest Ohio. A combination of soil pressure, fluctuating up and down with the seasons, and hydrostatic pressure have probably produced cracks in your foundation. Alternatively, whoever built your home may never have properly waterproofed your crawlspace, allowing water to enter not only through the walls but from the ground below.
The Solution...The Problem: Leaky Basement Walls
The Cause
- Cracks in basement walls
- Poor waterproofing
- Poor drainage system
Concrete and cinderblock may look solid, but in reality it is as leaky as a sieve. Groundwater, which is generally plentiful in northwest Ohio, exerts enormous pressure on your basement walls, forcing its way through the tiny holes that lace the material from which they are built. This problem is only exacerbated by poor or non-existent waterproofing, cracks in your basement walls caused by other forces, and poor drainage.
The Problem: Bowing Basement Walls
The Cause
- Soil pressure
- Ground water pressure
- Poor drainage
- Seasonal expansion
and contraction of soil
We often think of stone and concrete as some of the strongest substances known to man-kind. But there are far more powerful forces in nature that not even rock can resist forever: water. Over the years, a combination of seasonally expanding and contracting soil and water pressure from ground moisture can gradually pulverize the grout between your cinderblocks, the cinderblocks themselves, or even poured concrete walls.
The Problem: A Sinking Foundation
The Cause
- Erosion
- Poor drainage
- Natural settling
If there is anything we should be able to trust, it is the good hard soil beneath our feet. Yet the earth's crust is a great deal more pliable, changeable, and unstable than many of us imagine. Residents of north west Ohio are no strangers to that fact. This region used to be known as the Great Black Swamp, and was only really subdued by our ancestors less than a century and a half ago. Every time it rains, it seems that the swamp is trying to reclaim its rightful territory. Sometimes even our homes fall victim to this campaign, manifesting in a sinking, failing foundation.
The Solution...The Problem: Cracks in Wall, Drywall or Plaster
The Cause
- A sinking foundation
- Bowing basement walls
- Natural settling of a foundation
Just like the "hip bone's connected to the thigh bone," your foundation is connected to the rest of your home's skeleton, and problems with one can cause problems in the other. In fact, the cracks making their way from the corners of the doors and windows in the upper stories of your home may well find their source in a bowing basement walls or a sinking foundation. In such cases, it is important to treat the cause and not the symptom.
Preventing Foundation Failure in the First Place
It may be a truism, but the foundation is the most important part of a home. Investing in additional reinforcement for your basement or crawlspace will prevent enormous headaches in the future, ultimately saving rather than costing money. Imagine never having to deal with bowing basement walls, a sinking foundation, cracks in your drywall, doors sticking, or having to destroy your landscaping in order to excavate and make repairs.