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I’ve already done my initial inspection this is a summary of my inspection of this property here in Phoenix Arizona.
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James Belville 602-418-2970
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There’s no paint or waterproofing on the foundation
There’s spalling from the original paint being peeled off this is falling here and then a little more detrimental issue is this vertical break and it shows signs of settlement
Another vertical break right there and horizontal reinforcement steel is oxidizing
This whole corner is going to have to come off and the oxidation of the reinforcement steel is continuing
It has a low voltage electrical current running in it now because of the exposure to moisture and oxygen and right here if I bust this open you’ll see the rebar inside there busting off the side of this foundation here
This horizontal crack continues and goes on around I recommend it to be repaired
I open this up didn’t see any oxidation of the steel however got vertical break another vertical break another one another one another one and so forth
There is settlement the foundation is going down
This downspout needs to either have a trough to allow the water away from this foundation or it will continue to settle
These are what settlement fractures look like these vertical breaks in the foundation wall and then the horizontal crack is the oxidation of the reinforcement steel
So all of this needs to be repaired and waterproofed an extension over here on this downspout and that downspout would improve it over here
On the other side I opened that up it should be waterproofed and painted
The oxidation continues down here just slightly but it’s coming more vertical foundation cracks settlement and some old termite tubes
When you hold water near a foundation not only does it settle peels off the paint on the exterior goes in starts the oxidation process also settles the foundation and termites have
to have moisture in the soil to tunnel that’s why they’re here going over here
On this side more oxidation throughout this entire side slows down over here a little bit
This corner needs to be removed and repaired 100% of this foundation wall should be repaired waterproof to paint it is what my recommendation is
I did talk to two of the residents on the bottom floors I did not have permission to view any issues on the interior
This gentleman let me in here going upstairs
There’s a little bit movement over here on this side looks like it’s been repaired before as well
So what happens when these foundations move down on the lower floor ground level it affects the structure as well so there is a little bit of stress on the roof could lead to roof leaks
The floor joists underneath here will move with this foundation and create a few high spots and that sort of thing
For more information about foundation repair and foundation inspections contact James at (602)418-2970
Foundation Repair Expert – Concrete Repairman® LLC – a fully licensed, bonded and insured foundation repair company serving customers in Scottsdale and surrounding areas in Phoenix Arizona. We have over 30 years of experience installing and repairing home foundation cracks, floor crack structural stitching, floor leveling, stem walls, post tension, monolithic and resurfacing foundation damage for homeowner, and commercial clients in Phoenix Arizona.
This is an evaluation summary of this foundation inspection of this 2 story home here in Glendale Arizona
Foundation Damage Inspection Request
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James Belville (602)418-2970
Concrete Repair
Here some of these things are going to be very difficult to view.
There’s the separation right there in that corner where the crack goes up to the ceiling there’s a little hairline crack and this because there’s a little bit of movement over here on this side of the house, is caused by water holding that should be improved. More about Foundation Problems.
I have evaluated all of these rooms interior and exterior and it’s pretty solid.
There are very typical things that are suggesting the grade should be improved on this side as well basically all the way around the house it needs to be improved
We’ll get down to the floor here in a minute however the movement on the side of the home over here can cause the upstairs floor joist to you know get a little crown in them may get lumps in the floor that sort of thing
From the perimeter foundation around this home so to stop that from continuing and getting worse now for the life of this home dirt grading and gutters are recommended based on the evidence that I’ve found so far
Going downstairs I’m now in the kitchen and there is a fracture on the interior floor is showing on that side of the patio we’ll get out there in a minute and because that is the case it is the interior floor where that footing on the outside comes through and then the door comes around 90 degree angle to the door
That footing should probably have a keyway joint running through here and that’s in close proximity to it so it makes it vital.
That this side of the home well all sides of the home but this one in particular if it continues to go down from the water saturation that remains next to this foundation it will continue to go down and cause this floor crack
That I would imagine exists in this floor this is a floating floor is what it is considered and it can conceal that crack because it’s not a rigid material like tile
I have reviewed everything on the interior that was noticeable oh there’s just one more thing over here these are the earliest signs of settlement doorways windows and thresholds are the weakest point of a wall so if this foundation is moving in any degree it’s going to show up on these windows and doorways. More about Signs of Foundation Problems.
Going out to the garage there is a vertical crack in this stem wall foundation right here the joint is opening up the interior garage floor is considered a floating floor because it has expansion between the interior floor and the foundation wall however this foundation has broke and continues to open up slightly
Another light fracture will start here in and separation here at this caulking area so with this joint opening up the only way you can see this joint is if this floor is coming up because of this foundation is slightly going downward causing this crack to appear more prominently
This control joint running this way is also opening up so it is a fact based on this evidence that this side is moving slightly down
Six inch aluminum seamless rain gutters is recommended right up here in this corner
I don’t know if you can see it or not but there’s a just a hairline crack coming off in this corner and the weakest part of drywall is going to be the drywall joint it’s not because of a bad taping job by the drywallers it’s just because when the foundations move the stress comes from the top and starts putting stress in the roof
Going outside the soil shrinkage cracks it’s not necessarily expansive soil that sort of thing
Concrete slabs driveways floors do the same thing when there’s a little too much water and then the water evaporates and then causes shrinkage cracks
Whether it’s concrete or in soil so this is suggesting very loudly and you have plenty of room to bring in dirt grade to allow more slope away from this home
These foundation footings are only 24 inches this is a stem wall construction very typical 24 inches from top of floor to bottom of support footing
This is your interior floor it’s poured out to the vertical face of this foundation here so if we have a crack coming up through to your floor and it’s going to run in that direction because it is monolithic that is the face of the floor crack is gonna go in on the interior so what do you do
Well here’s a little bit more evidence this little tiny crack right here
Coming up is a hit the foundation broke and broke in that area too so what this is saying is I got a little too much moisture around this side and it’s really easy to see and the efflorescence salt deposit is being deposited on the back side of this patch and paint material right here and the soil is cracking and it’s separating just slightly next to the stem wall foundation here and this is a very good indicator just too much water is over here
You’re allowed four inches to come down here and then slope with screen dirt and rain gutters is recommended on this
This is the best way to combat foundations from settlement efflorescence salt deposits so there’s plenty of moisture here plenty of evidence even though the rainwater isn’t coming off here and landing here
It is always good to have good dirt grading around 100% of your home
Going out to the front and what I’m seeing here is serpentine of the expansion comes up and goes down comes up goes down comes up and goes down and the only way that this serpentine of the expansion happens is if there is enough moisture for it to get wet and there’s not much rainwater coming off of here but from here and there that’s significant enough to cause this foundation to break and we have a 90 degree corner coming up right here and that’s approximately the same area as that vertical break
This is considered a construction joint this is your interior floor that’s poured out to the vertical face of the perimeter foundation itself there’ll be a construction joint there and a construction joint over here
On this side as well and this is typical construction and this completes my evaluation
This is the video summary of this investigation on the interior and exterior of this home
The home is very solid considering what it needs every home does need some TLC and my recommendations are six inch aluminum seamless rain gutters with 4-foot downspout extensions and dirt grading using screened top soil compacted into place sloping away approximately three to four feet.
For more information about interior floor heave cracks crack stitching foundation repair settlement contact James at (602)418-2970
Foundation Repair Expert – Concrete Repairman® LLC – a fully licensed, bonded and insured foundation repair company serving customers in and surrounding areas in Glendale Arizona. We have over 30 years of experience installing and repairing home foundation cracks, floor crack structural stitching, floor leveling, stem walls, post tension, monolithic and resurfacing foundation damage for homeowner, and commercial clients in Glendale Arizona.
We’re at this property in Tempe Arizona and they’re getting water on the interior portion of their slab
Foundation Damage Inspection Request
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James Belville 602-418-2970
Concrete Repair
In there got flooded had the carpet removed
Some plumbers stopped by landscapers I guess and dug this out and it was completely saturated near this area
Then I went down a little bit deeper into this corner and where this radius comes around and it meets this other angle
That’s the likelihood of a separation or a construction joint or the concrete to break are at these angles like this so I need to look for some more evidence so I’m looking up a little bit higher and I’m seeing that there has been a little bit of repair in the drywall up there
A little bit prior to and I’m also looking for vertical breaks and these are going to be very very small and look very insignificant to most people and I’m having trouble finding them
I already found okay well here is a slight indication of separation here
I didn’t see anything vertical breaks on the foundation yet but I know they’re there
Over here on this side a little bit of separation here and this is what I’m looking for some evidence on giving me a location of where this could be moving to open up the foundation that’s holding up the house and vertical brakes will allow moisture to go in and I’m also looking on the slabs where it’s coming up
So this column here can move separately than the interior floor and when they do you’ll see cracks and I have some separation right there
We got a downspout so as we kind of get back away from our project this column is little low and there’s more significant cracking here and this has been patched before and it continues to open up so there’s some movement here even though it is a column
This is a construction joint where this column meets this other area and then it meets the main portion of the home we have a downspout here
Evidently a tree and it’s just dumping right here in the flow of the water he’s going right there in that location
When I was digging and got down a little bit deeper it was real easy to dig the soil
Almost seems like there was some undermining going on there’s big chunks of concrete from the build of the house and these chunks of concrete are in and around that area
And then there’s some styrofoam down there in the corner as well
So my recommendation is going to be excavated dirt all the way down
Right down there’s the bottom of the footing support the top of the bottom support thing to bottom of the vertical wall
actually
Remove these decorative rocks out of the way excavate all of the dirt around this radius all the way to the walkway and continue to come around this way and excavated all the way down the vertical wall of the footing and water proof it up just a little bit higher
Two coats of tar is Henry’s works really good and then bring in dirt to bring the elevation up a little higher to allow the moisture to be pushed away from directly going to these locations
Forcing the water out also I would either put another downspout run it underneath the ground run it out to where it can go over the sidewalk and down into the valley gutter out front
This is a nice six inch aluminum seamless rain gutter right here with an elbow going around the other way and the roof isn’t that large it may be able to handle this whole issue
On this side may not need this downspout here and bring it all over here in this area and extend that downspout a little further so it definitely gets out of that area
By removing the amount of water coming off of the roof landing right here at this downspout and filling this area up and water is going to go right downhill right to that area that I view as being suspect
So while we’re here in that area might as well waterproof this whole thing and then bring the dirt grade up to basically, you know keep that elevation coming away from the perimeter foundation wall of this house and that’s going to stop any infiltration of moisture going in on this sunken living room
Here in this area and where this transition of the radius meets the other portion of the house the construction joint they’re very likely is going to have be the culprit and have some issues in that area that we just really can’t see until we really get into it
Foundation Repair Expert – Concrete Repairman® LLC – a fully licensed, bonded and insured foundation repair company serving customers in Scottsdale and surrounding areas in Tempe Arizona. We have over 30 years of experience installing and repairing home foundation cracks, floor crack structural stitching, floor leveling, stem walls, post tension, monolithic and resurfacing foundation damage for homeowner, and commercial clients in Tempe Arizona.
Foundation Damage in Arizona is more common then you may think. Here at this home we find examples of the most common results of foundation damage.
Foundation Damage Inspection Request
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James Belville 602-418-2970
Concrete Repair
Foundation repair contractors in Phoenix Arizona, and we’re looking at this foundation and right below this window. This is the very beginnings of oxidized rebar reinforcement steel.
This little hairline crack once it starts, and the reason why it occurs to begin with, is the interior reinforcement steel has moisture around it.
The oxygen is getting to it and it’s made of steel so you get those three components and it starts a low voltage electrical current.
You can see this patch materials been patched over before. It’s starting to come apart as well. So we have a three foot space right here that we’re gonna tear in to remove that steel, replace it with a new number four bar that’s coated with rust inhibitor or epoxy two component.
The foundation repair guys are over here on this side. Here is a wing wall, just off at the garage and just something that that I notice, all the time.
Lot of times garage doors shut tight right in the middle. This doesn’t have a control joint there but it usually sits tight and then has a gap on one side or gap on the other. You can see that because of this crack this side is going down, and there’s stair stepping in the block on this wing wall.
The reinforcement steel has rusted down 20%. So we’re removing this number 4 bar which looks like a #3, 3/8 rebar right at the moment. #4 bar should be much bigger 1/2 inch.
It expands, breaks out the entire side here. This can cause structural damage.
Over here, the rebar has been removed and we’re going to reinstall another piece this guy here he’s putting on our glue coat on our virgin material since we’ve chipped into everything and once this is done we install the rebar coated with the epoxy rust inhibitor over here the same thing we’ve removed the rebar out of here and you can see by the stair stepping in the block right here at the weakest part of the walls doorways windows and thresholds from this point this way this sides going down and we’re not gonna be able to view it on the interior floor but the floor is actually heaving up causing huge interior floor fractures on the interior
Here’s another area when rebar oxidizes it expands up to 5 times its size in diameter busting out this side of the stem wall foundation here in Phoenix AZ.
We have to be very concerned, even though we live in Arizona. It’s an arid climate it hardly ever rains in Arizona hardly anybody’s got any rain gutters why should I have to worry about water in Arizona well here’s why we’re at the bottom of the foundation right here.
Foundation problems here in Arizona, it is not a freeze and thaw climate like Northern Territory’s. The footings are deeper up there, to get below the frost line. Here in Phoenix they’re very shallow.
Basically when the water has an opportunity to saturate the soil that’s holding up a home’s foundation. Just imagine a 10 pound bowling ball on top of mud. It starts the stair stepping in the walls, in the blocks. The interior floors start to heave up.
This is the reason why most every single floor of thousands of homes that I have viewed in 35 years have interior floor heaves. It’s not because, “my god!’ my house was built on expansive soil!” That story has been told for years and years. I prove it wrong on a daily basis by evidence.
More information about interior crack grinding crack stitching floor heaves doming of interior floor triangulated fractures settlement of your foundation here in Arizona. Contact James in Phoenix AZ at 602-418-2970
Foundation Repair Expert – Concrete Repairman® LLC – a fully licensed, bonded and insured foundation repair company serving customers in Scottsdale and surrounding areas in Phoenix Arizona. We have over 30 years of experience installing and repairing home foundation cracks, floor crack structural stitching, floor leveling, stem walls, post tension, monolithic and resurfacing foundation damage for homeowner, and commercial clients in Phoenix Arizona.
At this property here in Scottsdale Arizona we found a few areas inside the home that indicate foundation movement and separation
Foundation Damage Inspection Request
For more information contact
James Belville 602-418-2970
Concrete Repair
I’m just going to touch on the finer points of the evaluation and this is a summary of that what we’re looking at
Here is staining from moisture a fluorescent salt deposits are being left behind from evaporated moisture
This moisture is coming from the exterior side of this wall and the moisture is coming off of the roof and being trapped by the sidewalk out there so by adding dirt and dirt grading in these areas compacted that dirt and an elevation sloping the moisture away along with the rain gutters all of this calms down the amount of moisture
Directly on the other side of this wall is the same situation
This crack on the interior floor which is natural cracking in these type areas but the moisture you can see is coming up and staining underneath the sealer in leaving the efflorescence salt behind causing this discoloration
Do the moisture is migrating enough to come in through here and evaporate out so this is another indication take care of the water on the outside it’s all about water
Come out here doorways thresholds are the weakest link right here homes all settle
This is a control joint construction joint is there for a purpose
We get out to the garage this is a control joint the control joint is opening up just a little bit and what it’s doing is this is heaving upwards just a little bit that’s why you can see the crack
I go over here and I can see vertical breaks in the foundation these are very small can hardly notice them but what this states is that this area has broke
This interior garage floor even though it is considered a floating floor because of the expansion separation from the foundation wall it does have outward pressures north south and east and west
When that foundation goes down it’s lifting right at that joint which it’s doing so if this wall is going down slightly we’re going to see a crack in the weakest link in drywall which is the drywall joint
This is going to be somewhat typical but on the outside we need to control the water right here because these cracks are going at an angle stating the fact there’s an issue over here and there is this area right here
Control this water whether or not you put a rain gutter on here or do the dirt grading to slope this water away from it is recommended
Going inside the concrete is going to crack at a ninety degree corner this is a natural crack this is a natural occurrence here because it’s coming right off the corner and we’ll see other examples of that in this video here
At the entryway we have another transition where this exterior wall sitting on top of a footing is coming along then it makes a transition
This transition point is the likelihood of a crack in a floor which this is very typical
This crack continues meets the construction joint and then continues on to that side
All concrete is going to crack it’s guaranteed not to get stolen or blow away and it’s gonna crack where once to so about 50% of the house pretty close excluding that garage right there and then this construction joint I would imagine
That one side was poured separately at one time and then the other side was poured this is a natural occurrence
Right here this crack and there will be little separations weakest part of walls doorways windows and thresholds and this is a long span here so we see this transitional space right here
So one wall can move independently from the other wall and that’s where we’re seeing the stress
Nothing structural this home is very sound another threshold area where we have a little bit of stress occurring right here in this threshold and it is indicating that there is a little bit of movement over here on this side there
Again the patio going around this entire home is not only beautiful but it’s helping to relieve the amount of moisture that would otherwise be sitting right next to the foundation so it is very important to have good proper dirt grade compacted soil and rain gutters
Also have a separation right here this bullnose transition the weakest link in drywall is going to be the drywall joint so this is another indicator that the exterior side needs to be addressed from moisture
We’re here in the kitchen and this crack here you straddle the crack point to the nearest water source exterior wall there’s another slight crack coming off of there
That’s a corner that’s a likelihood of crack and we have a little crack right up there so this foundation comes up turns the interior floor is poured out to the vertical face of that foundation
The transitions right in here so this wall can move a little bit different in this wall and this in that crack right there is where they where the stress point is very typical
Going outside this is the area on the exterior of the bedroom where I was referring to the efflorescence salt being deposited and if we look right there at that vertical break right there that means that the foundation is broke in that location and you can see it where my finger is
That is the height of the water level that it was so there’s you know almost two inches there and then over there on the other side is about three almost maybe four
So this moisture can migrate in and underneath the floor and come up and cause this staining on the interior floor and that’s what you’re seeing
I’m recommending rain gutters for the entire house front yard back yard and side yards back here dirt grading compacted soil to slope the water away along with the rain gutters is going to solve the issues that I’ve mentioned at this home
Foundation Repair Expert – Concrete Repairman® LLC – a fully licensed, bonded and insured foundation repair company serving customers in Scottsdale and surrounding areas in Scottsdale Arizona. We have over 30 years of experience installing and repairing home foundation cracks, floor crack structural stitching, floor leveling, stem walls, post tension, monolithic and resurfacing foundation damage for homeowner, and commercial clients in Scottsdale Arizona.
In Phoenix Arizona we did a foundation inspection on this older home that did have signs of movement and slight foundation damage.
Foundation Damage Inspection Request
For more information contact
James Belville 602-418-2970
Concrete Repair
In this older neighborhood whose home was built in 1920 something
Beautiful floors nice interior and in this room we have some elevation changes in here
To bring this floor back up we’ll have to get underneath this floor too to lift it up but there are elevation changes at least two of them one right here in this location starts going down there and then there’s another elevation here to the where my finger is pointing is more stable and then it drops off and then it drops off again
When these foundations move down you will receive cracks in the ceiling drywall near doorways windows and thresholds which are the weakest joints of the wall are these openings
Without having the carpet up we can’t really verify everything underneath there but it’s very subtle
Going outside in the backyard I’m on I’ve already walked this property interior and exterior and these are the finer points of the investigation inside
Beautiful backyard your chickens have a couple legs over there
The weakest part of all is the doorways windows and thresholds and this area right in here we have some stair stepping coming down also a vertical break in the foundation
Here some stair stepping coming up some voids here and this is going to be somewhat typical to a home of this age
From that crack going this way this foundation went down because the verification of the break here
Separation there this window is coming out of plumb in this area
On the new addition I’m not seeing any issues that are really standing out
Stucco is a rigid material and at the doorways and windows and thresholds are the weakest link and there are a couple little cracks coming off of here
That’s going to be typical for this type of construction
Rain gutters on this side of the house coming down dirt grading you can put a lot of dirt grade up there to keep this moisture out because the moisture is the only thing that’s going to cause settlement which is happening on this side has happened in its lifetime so six inch gutters over here capturing the moisture coming down dirt grading around this whole area will make a dramatic improvement
With any cracks in the ceiling and in the drywall that we’ve seen on the interior the side looks nice should have our gutter system on here as well and on the estimate if there’s going to be an estimate for me if something that concrete repairman can do
I’ll put a referral for rain gutters on there
Going to the front as I’m walking to the front door there seems to be an elevation change right in this area
Kind of starts sloping downhill just a little bit nothing structural at this time
We’re now just outside the front door and this is a triangulated fracture right here that you’re seeing there’s an elevation here in elevation here an elevation here this crack running this direction says that this side is went down slightly over the history of its lifetime
This however is only stating that fact it is nothing structural there’s a berm up against the original hand a slight berm that could be improved next to this section and around that area which is recommended to bring this off a little bit more to keep the moisture further away
This column is separated from the rest of the house on these two corners so it can move independently and then the main home itself and the discrepancy
The difference between the two movements will be seen where it’s been patched before
Here a little bit of glue up there some more patching through the archway that’s what I’m seeing
This would be typical as well there’s nothing structural with that
Doorways windows and thresholds are always going to be the weakest link in a wall so if the foundation broke which it did there in its lifetime and it’s been patched and then also some other patch material has gone up through here to this corner and then up on the other corner out that way
So this is the evidence that not only suggests but these are facts that this side of the foundation has gone down a little bit and has settled slightly over its history
Now with the new addition that starts here the new concrete is poured up against and this is considered a construction joint right here should have to number four bars that are drilled into the existing and into the new concrete that would be code for the City of Phoenix
So if that is the case it’s going to help stabilize this area keeping in mind it’s all about controlling the moisture from this irrigated lot going next to the foundation and settling it
Because these foundations are very shallow here in Arizona because it’s an arid climate over here that dirt great could be dramatically improved to keep this water out of here same thing here and these are all the recommendations that I’m making in this area
I’m now on this west side of the home by the fireplace and there are just a few little vertical breaks in these weakest links right here both sides that’s very typical I just don’t want to see huge breaks that are really separating
The window looks like it’s in good condition as well which would confirm that it has moved but it’s not structural there is also this separation of going right up in through there try to get a little closer view of that and this means that from there this way it has gone down over its lifetime
This section at a 2×6 put down that’s what their little ledge is right there and I believe this is also permitted and part of the kitchen so it would also have rebar pins running through it so it’s going to stabilize this side of the house as well
So in these two areas of concern this corner in the opposite corner of the home I believe because of the additions that have been put onto this house with the rebar pins in the perimeter foundations are going to restabilize this home
I’m not seeing anything structural that would be severely alarming at this time of this evaluation
Foundation Repair Expert – Concrete Repairman® LLC – a fully licensed, bonded and insured foundation repair company serving customers in Phoenix and surrounding areas in Phoenix Arizona. We have over 30 years of experience installing and repairing home foundation cracks, floor crack structural stitching, floor leveling, stem walls, post tension, monolithic and resurfacing foundation damage for homeowner, and commercial clients in Phoenix Arizona.
We’re over here in Avondale Arizona looking at a foundation and the original footing was poured up to here and then the rest of it was poured on top
Foundation Damage Inspection Request
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James Belville 602-418-2970
Concrete Repair
What I want you to see is this vertical break in the foundation
Here it comes right on up and goes right up the wall it’s very likely that there are heave crack and fractures on the interior because over here there’s a vertical crack
There’s quite a few vertical breaks going that direction down the foundation wall
What this means is the foundation broke and broke and broke and broke and continues to go down
This causes this wall sitting on top of the perimeter footing to go down causing the roof stress causing cracks in the ceiling on the interior
As this moves down there’ll be a crack across the floor in that direction because the cracks are on this side and it’s going to heave the floor up in those Locations
It has nothing to do with expansive soil folks even though you’ve been told that for a very long time the evidence states very loudly that this rainwater coming down here landing here next to the house is causing the foundation to break in several locations
Across here it is articulating down this is called settlement, settlement causes cracks on your interior drywall doorways windows and thresholds or the weakest link in your walls and in your ceiling and in the drywall they usually cracks at the joint of the drywall which is a weakest link it’s not because it was a bad tape job it’s because your foundation is moving
Here’s another one this is what you look for when you investigate around your house
You’re looking for these vertical breaks this is going to be the first signs of settlement
So usually what happens is people find their floors heaving up cracking your tile
That’s what’s happening that’s settlement
This right here is something totally different I’m going to talk about this hurricane strap
It comes up about eight nails in it goes down into the footing because of the fact that this is on the exterior here and it’s exposed to the elements
It’s made of steel so when you have oxygen & moisture and steel together they have a party called oxidation
Oxidation process causes a low voltage electrical current running through it expanding the steel up to five times its size in diameter growing out and busting this side out
I just dug down and just it fell off that’s what’s going on here and the whole thought process well
It’s usually at these window locations or pop outs in the front of your garage and next to your garage doors on the side
On the corners those are the locations that are stated in the footing detail plans and the whole reason is to hold down this side of the house in case we get one of those hubs coming in and they usually come in pairs
These high winds they come up and can lift this side of the house so by inserting these hurricane straps it helps hold this down but it is not a hundred percent necessary because the fact they’re rusting and it causes all kinds of repairs
That sort of thing the repair would be to this would be to expose it remove as much rust off of there as possible
We have a specialized rust inhibitor two-part epoxy that we paint on that to stop the electrolysis then we patch it with structural grout has no Portland cement in it and then we patch it in waterproof and then we paint it and put the dirt back that’s the repair
However this footing is 12 inches tall anyway the homeowners not here I can’t look on the garage to see if it’s post-tension or not but we’re already down here to the bottom of the foundation which is right here
It was 12 inches so the footing was poured then the top was put on
I’m not seeing any evidence of interior reinforcement steel I don’t believe that that’s what it is
I could confirm post tension with a stamp on the garage floor so this texture on the side here it looks like there’s been wood here that is a texture that’s widely known as they’re using those type of forms to form post tension
It’s 12 inches tall the footing so these footings are very shallow
We live in Arizona hardly ever rains in Arizona hardly anybody’s getting rain gutters why should I have to worry about rainwater that’s pretty much what the consensus is here in Arizona
It’s an arid zone well because they’re so shallow and because all this rainwater if you calculate all of the rainwater that comes off these roofs that’s a huge amount of rainwater coming down right here right next to a shallow foundation so it’s like a 10-pound bowling ball on top of mud what do you think is going to happen it’s going to go down it’s going to cause those vertical brakes it’s going to cause cracks in your ceiling doors not to close floors to heave up tiles to crack
Just simply tap on the crack that’s heaved up enough it’s going to be hollow underneath there and always is don’t buy into that expansive soil issue that a lot of people talk about
It’s all about controlling the water next to a foundation that has a lot of vertical pressure being applied by gravity down to it the dirt is holding up the house when you saturate the dirt when there’s enough soil moisture content in the soil you can no longer hold the vertical pressure is being applied and it goes down causing vertical brakes causing floors to heave cracks in your ceiling tiles to break
I can’t emphasize that enough it’s very simple and it is exactly what I just stated
Foundation Repair Expert – Concrete Repairman® LLC – a fully licensed, bonded and insured foundation repair company serving customers in Phoenix and surrounding areas in Phoenix Arizona. We have over 30 years of experience installing and repairing home foundation cracks, floor crack structural stitching, floor leveling, stem walls, post tension, monolithic and resurfacing foundation damage for homeowner, and commercial clients in Phoenix Arizona.
Here at this home in Mesa Arizona, we find multiple signs of foundation damage. Cracks in the foundation, interior & exterior walls, floor, patio and garage.
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James Belville 602-418-2970
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I can’t remove all of this to show you but it’s very likely a hurricane strap coming up here it’s at the right location right here at this window and there’s a couple of them and it looks like there has been a little bit of patch going on on this foundation here because the texture is totally different
Another situation over here will be another hurricane strap causing some issues expanding and blowing this out
A horizontal crack going this way and continues here and there are a couple Jay bolts that are oxidizing so the repair would be just on this side of the AC here to this window that way to the corner and then around to the next corner
The weakest part of walls are doorways windows and thresholds and here we have stucco that’s cracking at the weakest part of Windows
Up here as well and on this corner and then it goes up to the center of the home
A couple more coming down here so I’m looking for settlement issues that causes this and when I look for these vertical breaks in the foundation say that the foundation broke and is moving down causing movement settlement
These are settlement fractures here’s another window we’ve got various cracks running off of here and then to this other side of the home as well
This is a little bit larger and this settlement crack is here as well so it’s broken there
In there we have another vertical break here and what this suggests and there’s another one right here as well so what this is suggesting because now they’re becoming more numerous and we can see where the rainwater is coming down off of this roof in landing right here
It looks like it may puddle a little bit but we live in Arizona hardly ever rains hardly anybody’s getting rain gutters but her footings are very shallow so when you let water gather next to a shallow foundation it’s like ten pound bowling ball on top of mud its just gonna go down causing these brakes
Seamless rain gutters with good downspouts to get it away from the home and an elevation change here bring up this dirt grate a little bit a lot more slope will solve this issue
Going around the other side so here we are over here and the first things that I notice is I’m standing at a higher elevation than that patio and that’s a large roof
If you calculate the length and width of this roof and this valley gutter coming down here that’s a lot of rainwater hitting this area so this side is moving from settlement
I should be able to see some evidence of that up here in the ceiling in the drywall at the construction joint and I do and that’s verifiable so it is stating that this is moving down a little bit and there could be interior floor cracks in that direction
So I get inside there it’s coming right off to this corner coming around going this way and this is a sporadic cracked fracture and it’s likely that this is a keyway joint running right through this wall that’s usually where the keyway joints is
The tongue and groove it’s like this inserted in the concrete slab and then it’s poured and that’s where it controls the joint
So based on this crack and the evidence on the outside over there on that side if this is moving down
We should be able to see a little bit of cracking in the drywall here and we do that’s been repaired and up above as well
Here the crack going up the side there too so that’s very verifiable
Over here in the front I’m recommending six inch aluminum seamless rain gutters for this entire house
Actually and anything to improve this grading over here to allow more water to flow out but if you capture it all off the roof and disperse it out from the house there’s a lot less water to be dispersed
Also oxidation of reinforcement steel right there is occurring so the repair would be from this entryway corner to the inside corner to this corner here
I didn’t see any issues here on this side going around the corner this is likely a hurricane strap that’s oxidizing causing this break over here it’s been painted over before
This is efflorescence salt deposit left behind from evaporated moisture and it creates bubbles on the interior side of the paint chewing into the concrete and then starts to delaminating the paint which it is here just paint below the soil moisture content will take care of that issue
Going over here into the garage here’s the floor fracture in the garage heading this direction it’s larger here and then starts getting smaller so at a 90 degree angle pointing this direction this side is going down so if this foundation is going down causing this heave crack here
There should be a crack in the ceiling and there is it’s all verifiable and over here this control joint is opening up which is suggesting it’s heaving upwards and this crack continuous goes right on to the interior floor
This corner exactly where an interior wall setting on top of an interior floor meets a perimeter wall setting on top of a perimeter footing they’re gonna get shearing
A crack is developed right up to here so that means this foundation is moving down and this wall the setting on top of the floor is holding more stable and you’ll see that shearing crack
It’s all verifiable for foundation settlement control the moisture you control the vertical movement of your home
Over here we have more oxidized rebar someone has patched this before it’s a vertical break right there’s likely an anchor bolt so the repair would be from this corner over to the other corner
Going in the backyard again and going over here on this side see a little bit different color paint here and there’s a construction joint where a window or something has been removed really don’t know what happened here at all but this is a construction joint where this crack is and this foundation moves any and all
This construction joint is going to continue to come open this would be very typical to a construction joint and the crack is a little bit larger over here on this side so I look for vertical breaks in the foundation
I only found one over here it’s very small very small right there so at least from here this way it broke and where it is going down just slightly and can cause cracks in the center construction joints here
That shows a little bit of movement in all homes are going to do some settlement of some sort over its history so again six inch aluminum seamless rain gutters with brackets to hold that gutter out level to capture maximum amount and you can’t put your water into your neighbor’s yard so you have to just wrap that around to your driveway and run it out that way
Foundation Repair Expert – Concrete Repairman® LLC – a fully licensed, bonded and insured foundation repair company serving customers in Phoenix and surrounding areas in Mesa Arizona. We have over 30 years of experience installing and repairing home foundation cracks, floor crack structural stitching, floor leveling, stem walls, post tension, monolithic and resurfacing foundation damage for homeowner, and commercial clients in Mesa Arizona.