The Price Paid for Inaction

Have you given some thought to whether or not it is truly worthwhile to repair the foundation? Or, what will occur if you make the decision to take no action? We’ve all heard of Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. However, when it comes to foundation settlement, there are also consequences of doing nothing, and sometimes those consequences can be quite serious.

Your home will continue to experience settlement if you do not repair the foundation.
If you choose not to address the foundation settlement of your home, it will continue to sink or settle over time. This is a simple fact of life that cannot be avoided. And just like cavities, foundation settlement is not something that will fix itself; rather, it will continue to get worse as time passes. Foundation settlement is not something that can be made to disappear by burying one’s head in the clay and loam.

This is due to the fact that expansive soils, which include clays and loams, are responsible for the incompetent and non-load-bearing nature of the soils that cause foundation settlement. The water table has a direct and inverse relationship with the expansive soils’ capacity to expand and contract.

Your home cannot possibly be supported by expansive soil because it lacks the necessary strength. As the house continues to sink, it will settle in an uneven manner, which will put tens of thousands of pounds of pressure on the foundation.

There is always a transfer of energy. The pressure that is being applied to your home’s foundation will travel up and through the framing of your home, causing the drywall to crack, the floors to slope and the door and window frames to twist out of alignment. The house needs to be brought back to its maximum practical recovery state and leveled so that the pressure can be relieved.

Driving push or helical piers into competent, load-bearing soil or bedrock is required in order to properly underpin a foundation that has become settled using steel pier systems. Your house will be protected from the shifting ground thanks to these galvanized steel pier systems, which function like underground stilts. It’s almost as if your house is taking on water and needs a “flotation device” as soon as possible.

To put it succinctly, if you decide against having your foundation repaired, you are opting to permit the settlement to continue and the structure to become even more damaged.

If you do not make the necessary repairs to your foundation, you will be forced to continue living with the signs and symptoms of foundation settlement.
If you don’t fix your foundation, you’ll have to put up with the signs and symptoms of foundation settlement for the rest of your life (even if you try to patch and paint or self-level a floor). In point of fact, foundation settlement can wreak havoc on the entirety of your home, including but not limited to the following:

Drywall cracks
Stucco cracks
Fractures in the ceiling
Splits appear in the slab.
Sloping floors
Windows and doors that are difficult to open or close are a nuisance.
Slouching chimneys

Keep in mind that cracks are always an indication that there is a more serious problem. Therefore, even if you repaired the cracks in your stucco or drywall with putty and paint, the primary problem of foundation settlement has not been resolved.

The foundation will continue to sink, which will result in the cracks appearing again. In the not too distant future, the self-leveled floor will need to be repoured (and will prove quite the headache if you do choose to repair it later on).

If you decide against having your foundation repaired, you are, in essence, accepting the fact that you will have to put up with the unsightly signs and symptoms of foundation settlement.

The Signs and Symptoms of Foundation Settlement Will Get Worse if You Don’t Fix Your Foundation If Your Foundation Continues to Settle

In the event that you make the decision not to address the foundation settlement in your home, the signs and symptoms will not only continue to exist but will also get worse. Cracks will widen and deepen. Your floor slope will have a discernible increase in its degree of steepness. It’s possible that the windows will break due to their crooked frames.

You might be interested in the RLM Retrofit Foundation. We are highly experienced in providing services relating to Foundation Inspection Big Bear and repair.

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