Foundation Repair Waterproofing

Well, that can be true in many circumstances. However, in this circumstance, there is a vertical break in the foundation wall, which tells me that this part of the foundation is moving down.

This part of the foundation is moving down because we live in Arizona it’s an arid climate.

It hardly ever rains in Arizona, and rain gutters; why should I worry about water?

Number one reason these foundations are only twenty-four inches from the top of this foundation down to the bottom to the soil holding it up.

Twenty-four inches very shallow, these stem wall foundations and post-tension foundations, for that matter, are very sensitive to the soil moisture content that is holding up the vertical load being applied by gravity.

Rain gutters and proper dirt grading around your foundation are critical here in Arizona.

One thing I want you to notice is that this floor is heaving, and I’m showing you the evidence to support that fact.

It is indisputable that there are no interior walls inside this garage that would push up on this drywall and cause it to crack.

A lot of misdiagnosis here in the Valley of the Sun is on the home’s interior. There will be walls pushing up the floors.

When you don’t know the answer to a question, the go-to excuse is always that all this must be expansive soil.

It is not the case I’ve only seen one example of expansive soil in 35 years.

This causes interior floors to heave up each other, and when the home settles enough, it’s going to crack, causing separation of the interior plumbing, and then a disaster waits.

I’ve seen that situation several times, so I’m going outside the garage to find more evidence.

The paint is painted down to the top of the dirt that gets wet below the pink line.

Moisture goes in and evaporates, leaving a fluorescent salt deposit behind, chewing off the paint.

This is happening everywhere, folks. If you’re building a new house, require that the Builder waterproof this foundation from the top to the bottom of the vertical wall with two coats and waterproofing or tar just below.

You know, one inch of the dirt grade, and then you can paint the top.

On this side, I’m looking for more evidence to support my findings on the interior garage floor and ceiling.

Here it is, this is the infamous settling cracks. A lot of times, I’ll hear people say oh, those are just settling cracks, especially when they’re selling the home, that sort of thing.

But this is caused by settlement because we live in Arizona, which has an arid climate. Our footings must only be 24 inches deep and 18 inches under the soil.

These vertical breaks here, here, there, and there’s a couple more right over there, say, and in fact, this foundation is broken and moving down.

So, if this is moving down the interior garage floors following that foundation wall down, causing the interior floor of the garage floor to heave up at the control joints.

It’s pretty simple: it’s not expansive soil causing heave cracks on your interior floor. It’s because of the fact that your perimeter foundation walls are going down, and there are variations of that going inside as well.

Let’s just take a look at this crack. This crack is on the interior floor. Basically, this is a bumper that goes into your interior floor garage and is separated by expansion.

So simply diagnose the crack with one foot on one side and one on the other point to the nearest water source.

Okay, we already got evidence of vertical cracks out here, so this is moving down, causing this crack to crack right there.

It’s pretty simple. What you’re viewing here is the separation of the perimeter footing at this drywall, which this bottom plate is setting on, and your interior floor.

This was poured separately, which poured right up against the foundation wall when they moved separately from one another.

If you have your carpet removed where the tack-stripped location is, you’ll see that construction joint there.

So we’re inside, and this house is moving and has a little bit too much water on it.

We’ll get to the outside here in a minute, but here’s what happens, and here’s what most people see are these cracks.

These cracks are separations. There is stress on this roof, which is created by moisture.

On the outside, near the location of the foundation walls, it’s going down, and the stress goes all the way up to the ceiling, and over there, there was a patch repair made and see the different texture right there, and there it as well there’s also a crack right there right off of that corner too

Foundation Repair and Waterproofing in Phoenix AZ

Our Foundation Repair Division is an expert in repairing and waterproofing home foundations and stem walls. Water damage is the leading cause of foundation cracks and crumbling. Identifying the signs and repairing the damage early on is extremely important. The longer the foundation is ignored, the worse the damage and the more costly it will be to repair.

We recommend that you visually inspect your home’s foundation regularly, looking for any signs of cracking or failure. If you have any questions or concerns, contact us anytime, and we can arrange an inspection.