Midwest Basementy Blog - 7 ways to know if it is time to replace your foundation wall.

7 ways to know if it is time to replace your foundation.

The foundation is the most important piece of your home and its overall value. Homes with considerable foundation issues are nearly impossible to sell and can be dangerous to live in.

We see homes with foundation issues varying in severity from a small amount of bowing or cracking all the way to walls that are collapsing on themselves. Luckily, we have solutions to fix any issue no matter how severe the foundation damage. We will always try to repair a wall prior to resorting to total wall replacement but it is not always feasible to try and salvage a wall that is too far gone.

A couple good ways to tell if it is time to replace your wall:

1. Mortar is eroding to the point of becoming chalky and flaking away from the mortar joints.
2. You can pull pieces of mortar or foundation out of the wall.
3. There is considerable displacement of foundation blocks and the wall is no longer flush. (Pieces of the block are sticking out, others are pushing in etc.)
4. The wall is tipping or bowing past the point where it can be recovered by foundation repair systems such as braces or anchors.
5. There are holes in the foundation material that you can see into and sometimes see to the exterior of the home.
6. Concrete, block, or brick pieces have begun to fall away from or out of the wall.
7. The block has twisted in the corner causing large separation cracks and displacement.

A lot of these issues are common with older building materials such limestone or clay block and brick. These are typical building materials for older homes that were built in the early part of the 19^th century. We see a lot of these types of foundations deteriorating to the point of being unable to salvage.

It is not exclusive to homes of that age, new construction often uses poured concrete and we have seen these fail as well. Typically from an excess amount of soil pressure from the exterior that was not addressed in its early stages. This can occur due to poor construction as well as overfilling the backfill area next to the wall.

No matter the type of wall, or severity of the issue we can accommodate it by building a new concrete block wall, built to building code. This includes a new footing if necessary, rebar for additional wall support, removing the previous wall, damp proofing the new wall and placing drain tile around its exterior that runs to your sump pump.

Is your foundation structurally sound? If you’re seeing the issues above, the answer is probably no. Give Midwest Basement Systems a call to have a free inspection done to find the proper solution to your foundation concerns.