**FOUNDATION** An Important and Imperative Part Of your House To Pay Attention

For some homeowners, a sinking foundation is their worst nightmare. What can you do if you're having sinking foundation problems in your home?

When foundation starts to settle into the ground, you may have a sinking foundation. Typically, experts use this term to describe what happens when the foundation starts to move down into the ground too far. Its common for a sinking foundation not to have enough support underneath it, causing the foundation to have structural problems.

Do you have a cracked block foundation?

Among the different type of foundations are block foundations. These foundations have different problems than many other foundation types, especially because they often develop stair-step cracks. These cracks typically indicate too much weight on one side of the foundation.

Uneven floors can have a marked impact on your home's structural safety and cosmetic appearance.

There are multiple potencial reasons for uneven floors, and none of them are good. Foundation problems can cause uneven floors, especially if one side of your foundation sinks substantially more than the other side - otherwise known as differential settlement. However, unsteady floor joists can also cause uneven floors in individual rooms. This can occur due to foundation concerns, lack of support, or infestations like wood rot

Cracks in your basement's walls and floor can ruin your best waterproofing efforts.

If you've  noticed cracks throughout your drywall, especially if they are extending from the corners of doors and windows, they are probably coming from specific foundation concerns. When the foundation shifts in such a way that the weight no longer distributes evenly, it can cause one side of the wall to bear more weight, leading to the drywall cracking along stress lines.

When one side of the foundation starts to sink, it will often create uneven weight distribution across the entire home. This can turn into a gap between the wall and the floor. Specifically, one side of the floor might be higher than the other, which can lift the walls and create a gap between the two. 

Many homeowners see drywall nail pops at some point. 

Nail pops occur when a nail head pushes too close to the edge of the drywall and comes through, resulting in a crack where the nail head sits. This often occurs because of foundation settlement, which causes the nail head to move closer to the drywall because of the movement of the foundation.

Sticking windows and doors are a problem that can frustrate many homeowners. When one side of a door or window frame sinks farther than the other, you can end up with "sticking" on your doors and windows. This problem can also occur if the frame becomes warped due to waterlogging. Regardless of the reason for it, "sticking" windows and doors typically indicate an overarching problem.

Cracked foundation slabs are some of the most frustrating generalized structural problems out there.

Concrete can crack anywhere in and around your home. Even if you see concrete cracks in a structure outside your home, like the driveway, it could indicate a problem with your homes foundation or the soil on the property as a whole.

When soil absorbs water, it expands. Therefore, when a flood comes around, that water sinks into the soil and causes it to significantly expand. Plus, the water from the flood exerts a lot of pressure, causing issues underground. Floods can generally create serious concerns with the soil and the area around your foundation.

Before a construction crew can lay down a foundation, they need to prepare the soil. The process of soil preparation is an important one, but there are a lot of way a crew cut corners and not prepare things well enough. Poor soil preparation sets your foundation up to failure before the crew has even poured it.

Different types of soil grow different amounts when you expose them to large quantity of water. Expansive soils grow much more than other types of soil. That includes all sort of soils that have clay minerals. Certain types of clay can expand up to 15 times their volume when dry, creating a truly dangerous situation around your foundation. The opposite, Consolidating soil significantly constricts when the water evaporates. Clay is both expansive and consolidating, which can cause a push-and-pull problem where the foundation continuously has too much pressure and then not enough support.