Signs Your Foundation Is Sinking—And What To Do About It

When home builders pour a foundation, they usually do so with the assumption that the foundation will stay stable over time. But sometimes, the soil beneath the foundation may erode, become compacted, or become worn away due to flooding. This can cause the foundation to sink. Luckily, a sinking foundation is not a death sentence for a home. Foundation repair teams can address and fix this problem. But first, they need to be aware that the sinking foundation is an issue. Here are some signs your foundation is sinking, and a look at how such problems can be repaired.

Signs Your Foundation Is Sinking

1. Uneven Floors

To tell whether your floors are uneven, put a dowel down on a hard floor. Does it roll to one side? Try this again with the dowel oriented perpendicular to its original position. If the dowel consistently rolls toward one side, then your floors are crooked, which usually means your foundation has sunk on one side.

2. Shifting Doorframes

Have you noticed that your doors no longer close; they hit at the top instead? Maybe your doors still close, but at the top of the door, there is a larger gap to one side than the other. Shifting doorframes usually occur because one side of the foundation has sunk and is now lower than the other side.

3. Cracks

Foundations can crack for many reasons. However, if you see horizontal cracks in your foundation, and if those cracks are wider on one side than on the other, this likely means that your foundation is sinking.

How a Sinking Foundation Is Fixed

There are two key ways that a foundation repair company can fix a sinking foundation. One is by injecting concrete under the side of the foundation that has sunk. This is usually done when the sinking has been minor, and when there is no reason to suspect it will continue.

The other approach is to insert helical piers through the foundation. These are basically big, vertical supports. Your foundation repair team will drill way down, beneath the foundation, and then screw a helical pier into the soil. This helical pier will grab onto the soil and rest on the rock far beneath your home. In doing so, it will keep the foundation from sinking any further.

If you think your foundation is sinking, contact a local foundation repair company, such as CXC Contracting.