Stone Foundation Repair – What to do?

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owning a historic building, an old stone foundation could be an interesting experience. Those who will be a strong voice and pocketbook true caretakers of a piece of history. The foundation of that history is the simple, bold and strong field stone foundation wall.

Older stone buildings based usually seen against the original stone of the exterior and interior of the building. However, it was common to apply a layer of plaster on the inner wall of the basement is the foundation, as the insulation, so that the stone can not be seen inside the building.

Most of the original plaster have worn out today, but if you’re lucky, you just might run across an old stone foundation is still intact, but this would be the exception.

Typically, after 30-50 years the foundation had shifted causing cracks in the foundation wall, and it was not uncommon to apply the second to the foundation of the masonry cement stucco. If the second layer of cement stucco, such indicates that the second coating is applied after the early 1900s, when mass-produced cement stucco became available.

Regardless if you plaster or stucco applied to the walls, you can look lumpy as an individual stone formations show under the plaster or stucco.

What to look -A lot of these older stone foundations never groomed and challenging issues from the building owner leak occurred mortar sand, loose stones and bulging walls. Anything beyond these few maintenance issues could be considered “a failure” and may require an engineering inspection.

stone foundation walls that leak – It was is not uncommon for these leak from the old stone foundation walls. When originally built with a hole was dug in the size of the building and dug a trench, where the walls are to be placed. Large stones in the area would be in the ditch, and became the foundation stones of the bed wall.

Drain tile has not been used around foundations older building, so that the static pressure would have been subject to the problem or the type of soil and the ground from the beginning. A high quality builder would have trenched in the sunny little corner of the land, that water from the Fund where the site is allowed. It would be partly filled with debris in front of the trench paving stones, but this is simply a drainage technique would be the exception and not the rule.

Most older homes were built high off the ground to keep moisture to a minimum. The basement space in these homes, which are not intended to be used as living space, so a bit of moisture and does not have a common concern.

stone foundation wall Problems – Water decades infiltration causes a deterioration in the stone foundation walls. The result can be excessive static pressure bulged walls or foundation of settlements, deteriorated mortar joints too wet or loose stones and missing grouting simple aging and movement.

bulged walls – This problem shows the greatest obstacles depending on a building owned by the extent and severity of the convex problem and the location of the base of the wall. Generally, however, a part of the foundation wall can be removed and rebuilt, but the proper support must be in place to support the load of the building before you proceed. It may not be out of range of an experienced mason contractor and ask for advice.

Loose stones and missing grout – These items simple remedy. Loose stones to be removed and re-fresh mortar. Care should be taken not to undermine the critical support area of ​​the base. If you think it is an area of ​​loose stone load bearing beams or load, you should consult professional advice.

holes and missing joints can be filled with mortar or tuck-pointed, to help pull the foundation walls. Any brand of masonry mix available at your local box store should be adequate.

After graduating from the list of repairs should apply another layer of cement stucco. This helps to smooth out imperfections, near the small holes, “stiffens” the surface of the walls and hopefully some protection against leakage.

Check the foundation annually and any necessary repairs immediately. By taking immediate action and implementation of recommended keeping you one step closer to the above improvements, the old stone foundation shape.

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Source by Michael Olding

Why choose a Pier and Beam foundation?

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Construction of an exciting home business. Homeowners get to choose wall coverings, flooring, up-to-date equipment, room size differences, and the windows and doors. But what most homeowners do not realize that the building will begin a home from the ground up the foundation.

The most important step is to choose a new home in the most efficient and safe base for the property location. Research Foundation bases are essential to the structure of the new home. Some entrepreneurs are well informed about the basics and help you to see which is the best home. But there are many who pour a foundation for the negotiation of their choice without a choice for you, the homeowner.

There are two choices foundation to build a new homeowner must be a slab-on-grade foundations and the pier and beam foundations aware of. The two are quite different when the construction, cost and longevity.

Slab-on-grade foundation built of reinforced concrete and is generally shallow, built fast, and cheap. A building that does not have to live in the homes that he built, slab foundations of a dream. Slab foundations used in homes that do not have a basement. The biggest drawback is that slab-on-grade foundations, because they are not resistant to seasonal changes in motion and moisture disbursement root growth. In other words, the slab foundations is not a long-term housing options in North Texas. Another disadvantage is that usually all placed under the pipe causing the base plate is a very costly process water pipe burst.

pier and beam foundations, on the other hand, a few steps above the level of slab-on-grade foundation. Pier and beam foundations are under the crawl space (usually less than 18 inches) in domestic and concrete footings to support the slab. This is not considered basic model saves time, but safer and more comfortable. Crawl space allows access to the plumbing and heating utilities, without having to break through the concrete slab. The foundations of the piers is less susceptible to damage due to soil variables, the problem in many North Texas homes slab foundations experience. If extreme soil variables does not occur, the foundation is easy to set up, a process that is much cheaper than slab foundation repair, a process most homes in North Texas is going through.

Because the pier and beam foundations allow homeowners walking on a suspended wooden platforms, they are much easier on the joints of the body. slab foundations favored by over pier and beam foundations are suffering from back pain.

pier and beam foundations normally used in homes built in the northern part of the country, because the climate is the freezing and thawing conditions. This condition requires that the foundation can be built deep in the ground. The safety function of the Fund to which very rarely affected by climate change. But the North Texas varying reasons, to the pier and beam foundations for the best, longest-lasting choice for the foundations of the field.

professionally known designers Monster pier and beam foundations on the Dallas / Fort Worth. They will test the soil on which the home is built to decipher the best basis for a given area.

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Source by Tasha Lucas

When I bowed foundation walls buckling damaged beyond repair?

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damaged the foundation is very worrying that homeowners – especially if the wall is bowing, buckling, or seem to be in danger of caving in.

Since the emergence of the foundation walls, many homeowners assume that the only safe and effective solutions for the home to remove the damaged wall and replaced by a newly built one. However, even in extreme cases, the homeowner also has several options for the repair of the foundation – including options that do not include exchange basis.

The Case Against Foundation exchange

Generally speaking, foundations replacement involves a long, expensive and invasive procedure home. First, the initial founders will be fully disclosed to the foundation walls. Then the house will be “lifted” temporary supports, while the floor slab and foundation walls are removed. The new foundation is built, the floor is poured, and finally an attempt can be made to restore the landscaping.

The worst part about this problem is that this time, disruption and cost, you do not really dealt with the problem that caused the damage in the first place – that as the soil around the foundation. Without resolving this question, it is very likely that the new foundations damaged by the same issues that hurt the first.

Four foundation wall repair solutions

The good news: if the wall is still standing, there is a high possibility that the it can be improved – without the need for replacement of the wall. Repair options are as follows:

Carbon Fiber Bars: If the walls are bulging in the middle and do not tilt the top or bottom of inward movement, this may be the best option for your home. These strips of carbon fiber fabric with epoxy along the foundation wall can be quickly and easily on a foundation contractor. They are many times stronger than steel, can be installed throughout the year, and is the ideal amplifier bowing foundation walls.

One of the biggest advantages of carbon fiber strips of low-profile design. If you plan after the painting or finishing the basement repaired the walls, it is a reliable and inexpensive solution is to wall studs and wall board.

Foundation Wall Anchors: If you have access to outside the home, and would like the opportunity to straighten the foundation walls of the original, upright position, this is the solution you are looking for. Wall Anchors of a three-part system, including wall plate, which is mounted on the visible side of the basement wall, a wall anchor that can be found in the soil and a steel rod, which connects the plate to the anchor. The wall plate grips the foundation wall and the anchor sits in the soil to keep it in place. Then, each wall plate is pressed against the crank arm, pressed against the base wall inward movement stop.

Over time, this option is not only the foundation wall brackets, but gradually straighten the wall back to its original location. They can also be painted over or used in conjunction with basement finishing as the thin plate is easily installed over studs and wall board. And, in contrast to the carbon fiber tape devices, wall anchors can be used for supporting walls to show signs of tilt inward at the top or bottom slider.

I-Beam Systems: If you do not have access to outside the home, but you need to repair the wall is tilting or sliding inside the top to the bottom, it’s the system itself to look for. This system of steel “I” shaped beams which span the distance between the concrete and the floor joists along the top of the basement. These steel are installed at intervals along the walls of stiffeners stop each inward movement.

Most of the I-beam system only stops the movement of the walls, but a rare few can be configured to straighten the walls as well. Furthermore, these systems is the least compatible with a finished basement, as they take up space along the walls. The best systems are designed corrosion-resistant galvanized steel, so you do not become a thorn in the passing of years.

Shotcrete Sister Walls: If the wall is crumbling, collapsing or showing extreme damage, there is still a good chance that the exchange fund is still not necessary . Instead, a sister built a wall in front of the original wall, a spray-on concrete is known in the industry as fired. This twin wall works best when combined with a wall anchor system, which helps ensure that the new wall did not crumble to the pressure that damaged the original wall.

This will be installed throughout the year, and much faster than it would be a foundation for replacement, not bother to landscaping. It’s cheaper, easier, and you can expect a great entrepreneur, a guarantee that the work is carried out.

shooting vocational entrepreneur in California

If you plan selling your home in the future to be able to say that the prospective buyer of the foundation is repaired by a renowned entrepreneur can be a major selling point in your home. If the contractor is still in business, and the installation of a written, transferable guarantee, it is also a selling advantage.

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Source by Jeremy Guy

Foundation Piering What and how does it work?

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Today, more and more homes are built on unstable soils, such as the ones that learned in previous chapters. Among the extensive and hydro-compacted soils and sedimentation, foundations push and pull that move. Every year, thousands of homeowners are faced with evaluating and improving foundation problems. Fortunately, this means that they are reliable, the technical solutions available.

Exactly what is available, and this a solution to the structural problems?

Because the root of the structural problems of the soil, the first two options in dealing with the foundation weight off the unstable soil and bedrock places or other solid ground these solutions are called push piers and helical piers.

The push Piers basically long steel shafts, which are hydraulically via ground unstable surface soil until they reach the bed-rock or other load-bearing layers. Technicians can say that the piers reaching the bedrock by measuring the hydraulic pressure required to drive the piers into the ground until they meet specified depth engineer. The home weight then through the unstable ground and onto the pier piers brackets attached to the bottom of the house.

using similar

Helical Piers ground hydraulics, but are connected to the ground like a giant screw. Moreover, these enormous screws that hold up the house through literally a resistance force. The weight is then transferred to the domestic piers same durable steel brackets.

indicate that there is a need for a system Piering

It has an area of ​​foundation wall, which is experiencing a vertical motion, like the sinking.

The chimney does not fit into the home.

The soil can be classified in scope, sinking, hydro, compressed, or active.

How Piers are installed 6 Basic Steps

Step 1: Outside, lawns and landscaping around the home were removed and set aside.

Step 2: The soil is removed, while the bottom of the concrete base revealed.

Step 3: Pier Foundation mounts a heavy, industrial-strength steel footings are connected to the home.

Step 4: massive steel pillars hydraulically driven down to bedrock strength equal to or load-bearing layers.

Step 5: The weight of the home, galvanized steel brackets carefully through unstable ground rock solid piers.

Step 6: After the approval of an engineer, the soil around the home instead, and the landscaping is returned to its original location.

There are several other options that are used during different eras to solve foundation problems. The oldest method is to jack up the house and replace the foundation and the latest method is to utilize piering systems or the entire perimeter of the home, or just part of it. Here’s a breakdown of the other methods that people use to solve Foundation issues oldest to most recent:

Replace the Foundation

Destroys yard and it takes several weeks to complete

There is no guarantee the same problem reoccuring (expect the same results

socket is still active zone

VERY EXPENSIVE- $ 50,000 PLUS

concrete Underpinning / Spread footing:

can take weeks / months

weight of the concrete can make the problem worse

structure can not be lifted

socket is still active zone

Concrete Piers

Concrete cylinders can crack during installation and can not be restored because of the deep

rollers too much skin friction to get through to additional shims Active Zone

necessary in the future

Even if shimming is included in the guarantee, the injury re-settlement and re -excavation not apply

square shaft helical Piers

Originally designed to withstand strong winds guy wires electrical towers.

is not designed to hold up through the weight of the soil

experience

Square shafts bending and folding when the weight rests on a foundation.

Concrete reinforcement cable Piers

designed for specific soil conditions that are not present in Colorado.

too much skin friction rollers get through the Active Zone

center cabling pier stretches over time, allowing instant after the piers in place.

Further cabling outer cylinder can increase skin friction roller.

Finally piering systems

Press Piers FOG

Let the deepest penetration of any type of steel pier.

makes it possible for low-impact interior equipment (typically much less collateral damage than the external approach)

guarantee of a lifetime transferable for the first 25 years that the vertical movement of Piero areas does not occur

Perform the job in most soil conditions of the planned service life of more than 100 years of

Press Piers mAY:

Enable the probability of lifting mechanism of a flatter, more levels condition

makes it possible for the closing or narrowing the existing cracks in brick, stucco, sheetrock or other internal or external surfaces

re-enable coordination sticking doors and windows, as well as straightening leaning chimneys

Press Piers is not

guarantee that perfect final conditions of the plane or level can be achieve

Add the lateral (horizontal) seat of a bowed foundation wall

water resistance is necessary to increase or decrease the humidity in the cellar

helical Piers WILL:

Perform the job in most soil conditions of the planned service life of more than 100 years of

allows the installation is relatively older, weaker or lighter foundation types

allow the installation as a pre- -Year of construction (or new construction) bearing system, poor soil

Leave a horizontal installation, as a “tie-back” system that can withstand the land climbs the hillside areas

, with very few exceptions, if necessary exterior excavation, destruction of the surrounding landscaping or paving

a lifetime warranty transferable for the first 25 years that the vertical movement of Piero areas does not occur

helical Piers mAY:

Let the probability of lifting means of a flatter, more levels condition

, makes it possible for the closing or narrowing the existing cracks, brick, stucco, sheetrock, or other internal or external surfaces

Allow to re-harmonize sticking doors and windows, as well as the straightening of leaning chimneys

helical Piers is not

guarantee that perfect final conditions of the plane or level can be achieved

Add the lateral (horizontal) seat of a bowed foundation wall (unless explicitly installed “tie-back” mode)

water resistance is necessary to increase or decrease the moisture content in the basement

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Source by Cassi Henes

Foundation Repair – The water effect on Foundations

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Water can be a foundation greatest enemy – no matter if you poured the foundation type or block type. When drainage is going in the wrong direction (toward the house), you can completely ruin a foundation. Foundation repair is an absolute must for once water hit him in the house.

waving – The water effect

When the water is absorbed into the soil that surrounds the foundation, and does not drain properly, the soil swells, and the expansion will only affect that soil that is soaked. In other areas, the soil remains intact, does not swell. The house is partially a result of the expansion to lift. This lift is, of course, is uneven, it is only in areas where the soil is impregnated with water – and this causes the base to lift the arm. This lift is called “gasping.” Cracks and holes in the foundation can then be seen as evidence of surging.

Waterproofing Will Help?

Waterproofing Foundation helps a lot, as prevention is key to avoiding costly measures to repair the foundation. Downspouts, proper slope and classification technology to the countryside, and pump all help to provide a foundation drier.

waterproofing But not always prevent damage – severe flooding rains in summer and the winter-to-spring melt may cause more water to surround the base, such as waterproofing technology can handle. When this happens, the list is often seen waving, and foundation repair is necessary in order to prevent the sinking of the house, sloping and has been severely weakened in value.

Complications

A number of complications can occur when the water to the baseline. He bowed, tipping, cracks, and tilt may cause complications throughout the home. Suddenly, sagging floors, and doors and windows that suddenly opened up the easy now stalled and stuck. This leads to a serious weakening home values, and living in the house less inviting.

Get Help When

Even the most obvious homeowner in trouble sometimes. When it comes to foundation repair, professional services are often required to ensure that the foundation does not fall apart (literally!). Control of the basements and foundation cracks, visible seams, holes are an absolute must, especially after rain and during the wetter months when the soil surrounding the foundation is exposed, it soaked (think spring and summer, especially). If there are small cracks to get them rectified immediately. Large cracks in the basement walls or the foundation will need the help of a foundation repair services. No homeowner should try to fix a foundation alone.

gasping repairs can be expensive, if a homeowner is trying to go it alone without the help of a reliable, professional service basis. If a person tries to fix a mistake or an error in judgment of how bad the problem is to call a professional at a later date cost much more than the original problem to be fixed with the errors.

So, do not bet the house – immediately contact a professional evaluation.

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Source by Steve Mike Levy