Lets take a walk

Around Your

Real Estate

Put on your walking shoes

Put on a good sun screen, get your home repair checklist I made for you, Your Welcome.

Lets start by looking at the foundation of your home. This is the concrete that your house sits on and generally shows at the ground up to whatever you have on your walls exterior. You may have concrete, wood, press wood, vinyl, steel, aluminum, or log siding. You might even have stucco. Which ever your home is covered with  you will still more than likely have a concrete foundation.

What do I look for

As you walk look at the wet areas if there are any and make note of that in case you have to adjust your sprinklers or fix a leak in a pipe or hose bib ( what you hook your hose to for water). When these areas don't dry up they create a possible hazard to your foundation by not supporting them as well as a good dry compacted soil.

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What are those cracks all about

If you see cracks in the foundation and they are more than a 1/8 inch thickness ( 4 sheets of paper) you want to look and see if there is a hole right under the concrete foundation at that point or is it just from settlement. Settlement is the slight shifting of your homes weight on the ground. Sometimes it is a change in the soil conditions such as freezing. This is called upheaval of the soil. The ground will go the opposite way when it thaws in the spring.

Worst case and generally in the mountain areas are foundation that are built over an old mine shaft. Normally they don't know the mines were there because there are so many to map. In the old days they didn't keep good maps of the shafts. But it is a good idea to check when you buy property in those kinds of areas to see if there are any records of a mine under your lot. There has been cases where people have been in there home and the floor suddenly open up and parts of it collapse into a large hole.

Raised foundation

If you have a raised foundation, not a concrete slab floor, you will have foundation vents. You should have one within 12 inches of a corner and 2 for every 25 feet of wall and they should be clear of anything blocking them off. Make sure the screen is not damaged or missing. If it is, you can purchase new ones that just screw or nail over the old ones! Or you can take the old screens out and put in the new ones - it will be a much cleaner job. These vents make sure that the moisture, if any, is vented out and does not collect under the home.

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Who should I call if there is a crack in the Home's Foundation?

If you have any problems & you are not sure of what to do, there is this person called a Structural Engineer. They will come to your home and see what the problem could be and what can be done. He will let you know if it is serious or just a crack. Either way you will be at ease to know what is causing it.

Most cracks are just that and can be filled with concrete crack filler or electrometric caulking. Once you have done that it needs to be painted with a good latex exterior paint or if your foundation is not painted get some concrete sealer and follow the directions on the bottle.

But there is water under my House

If you have any water that hangs around under your home make sure that it gets dried up or start by looking for drainage problems where water from the yard or a sprinkler that is pointed the wrong way may need to be adjusted. You may have to re-grade an area that drains toward your home. If it is by a pipe under your home there may be a leak even if it is a slow leak you need to fix it. It could cause all kinds of problems down the road.

• Fix That Old Tile

• Next Home Repair Exteriors

• Hey Fix Your Dry rot

• Sprinkler Repair

• Fix your Roof

• Look at those Concrete Walks?

• Got a Fence Problem

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