Your Local Expert in Basement Waterproofing, Crawl Space Repair & Foundation Repair!
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Your Local Expert in Basement Waterproofing, Crawl Space Repair & Foundation Repair!
Concrete is made of cement, gravel and water. When the water starts to evaporate, the remaining ingredients then harden into a solid slab of concrete. Unfortunately, this portion of the process can cause the concrete to shrink a little bit, and this results in hairline cracks in the slab. While this kind of crack doesn’t threaten the structural integrity of the house, it does provide an opening for groundwater, insects and even radon gas to pass through.
If you have a horizontal structural crack, at least 90% of the time it means that the wall is bowing inward. If you see vertical cracks, they typically indicate a settling issue. Stair-step cracks can be an idication of either problem, possibly at the same time.
If it’s a hairline crack, this is a sign of a bigger problem down the road. Your house is talking to you and telling you, I’m sick, there is a problem. Even if the magnitude isn’t as severe (i.e. bulging or slanting), it’s worth being repaired, as having smaller cracks repaired early can prevent bigger problems and cracks in the future. Your foundation is not going to get any better on it’s own, only worse. The longer you wait without taking any action, the worse the wall looks after being repaired and more involved repairs will be needed. The more involved the repair, the higher the cost.
In Ohio we have a lot of clay in our soil. The biggest problem with clay is that when it rains, the clay soil soaks up 3-4 times it’s own weight in water. Even worse than that, when the clay soil becomes saturated, it actually expands. So if you have a pound of soil, that same soil becomes 3-4 pounds after the rainfall. As it saturates, you are tripling, if not quadrupling the weight up against the foundaiton wall; and on top of that, the soil expands after saturation causing extra pressure pushing on the foundation wall. Which is going to move first? Your 8″ foundation wall or the hundreds of yards of soil itself? Your foundation wall is going to crack, lean or bow! Something has to give.
Please do remember that if you see cracks or bulging walls inside your home, don’t try to fix these yourself! Instead, call The Twin State Basements, this is what we do everyday!
At The Twin State Basements, we also fix leaking cracks in your basement and we have warrantied solutions specifically designed to repair each type of leak in your basement or foundation.
The Twin State Basements is the leading structural crack repair company in the Greater Cincinnati, OH area. Our team has been fixing basement wall cracks for many years, so we definitely know our stuff. We stand by our work by offering 5 year to lifetime transferable written warranties, depending on the work you have done.
We can also fix leaky basement cracks, crawl spaces and vapor barriers in the Greater Cincinnati, OH area. For amazing service and quality products call The Twin State Basements at 844-326-3616 today.
Our high standard of quality ensures a healthy basement with a Nationally Backed Warranty.
