Tips and Tools for Real Estate Agents or Home Inspectors: Street Creep

Street creep generally develops in houses on the outside of turns and curbs. It is also common in cul-de-sacs. This is due to pressure applied to the concrete as vehicles and snow plows pushing against street curb and into your driveway concrete.

Constant changes in Iowa temperatures can affect more than just your mood - it can damage garages, driveways and foundations causing Street Creep.

Street Creep is not that neighborhood bully who hangs out at the gas station, but actually the expansion and contraction of a street due to temperature fluctuation. Home builders typically understand this movement and that is why they install expansion and control joints.

These control joints widen in the winter and narrow in the summer. When the joints are widened in the winter they can become filled with material that can't be compressed such as sand or grit. When the temperature rises again in the Spring and Summer the concrete expands and compresses the expansion joint or pushes against your garage concrete slab with an increasing force.

As this concrete expands against your driveway with grit filled expansion joints, it is pushed against the garage slab, which in turn pushes against the foundation, causing damage.

Here are some signs of Street Creep to watch out for around the home and neighborhood.

Signs of Street Creep

1. Expanded cracks between curb and driveway.

2. Cracks in the corners of garage walls on either side of the garage door.

3. The foundation walls on either side of the garage door are pushed inward by the driveway slab.

4. Gaps have formed behind the foundation walls on either side of the garage door as the garage slab is pushed rearward.

5. Basement walls or foundation walls are pushed out by the garage slab.

If you see these signs around a home, call our office at 1-800-638-7048 to schedule a specialist to come out and help you!