Should I Repair My Foundation or Replace It?
Our crawl space specialists compare repairing a foundation with replacing it and recommend which is better for you.
Advantages Of Foundation Repair Vs. Total Foundation Replacement
Many homeowners feel that if their foundation is cracked or damaged, the logical thing to do is to replace it. However, as with most home repairs, it’s important to consider all your options. Whether you choose to repair or replace the foundation, the most important thing is to find an effective, permanent solution from a contractor you can trust.
At Fresh Air Technologies, our specialists can help you find the best solution to your foundation problem. We can perform a comprehensive inspection of your foundation, providing professional consultation and a written cost quote. If you’d like to schedule a free foundation repair quote, call us today!
What’s Causing My Foundation Problem?
The different types of soil around a foundation will behave in different ways as temperature and moisture conditions change, possibly affecting the condition of the foundation. Foundation settlement is the movement your home experiences when the soil beneath it shrinks, settles, or can no longer support the structure’s weight.
A foundation with bowing or buckling walls is showing signs of damage caused by expansive soils. When clay-rich soils absorb moisture, their volume increases drastically. This can increase pressure on your home’s foundation walls by thousands of pounds, causing walls to bow and buckle inward.
Foundation Replacement
With total foundation replacement, heavy equipment is brought in to excavate the soil around your home and expose the foundation. In order to get proper access to the foundation, anything around the foundation, such as porches, steps, and walkways would need to be removed.
The house would need to be “jacked up” on temporary supports as the foundation walls and slab floor are removed. After the new foundation is built, the house is lowered into place, the soil is replaced and the landscape details are restored as much as possible.
Foundation Repair
Following a thorough foundation inspection, the foundation repair contractor will explain how and why the damage occurred and how specialized materials and techniques can be used to make permanent repairs.
There are a variety of solutions that can be applied. If you have buckling foundation walls, for example, foundation wall anchors may be suggested as the solution. Foundation settlement issues are often solved with foundation piers. Foundation repair can be performed year-round, and many repairs just take a day to complete.
Do You Recommend Repairing The Foundation Or Replacing It?
It’s important to note that foundation problems can occur in houses of any age, size, and style. These problems generally have two causes: poor construction quality, and homes built on poorly compacted fill soils.
While there are some extreme cases where a foundation just can’t be fixed, we recommend repairing the foundation whenever possible. Not only is choosing to total foundation replacement extremely disruptive and expensive, but it also doesn’t address the source of the problem: your foundation soils. Since you’ve built a new foundation on the same troublesome soil, you can expect the same behavior from that soil.
Call Us For A Free Foundation Quote!
We have the tools, training, and professional foundation services you need to permanently solve your problem. We offer free foundation repair quotes throughout our service area.
