A building with a weak foundation is dangerous as it can collapse any time. When buying a building or just renting, you need to inspect the foundation and make sure that is in excellent condition. If you have never known how to check the foundation of a building, Foundation Repair Hamilton has volunteered to let you know the things to consider.
- Cracks
Never take the cracks in your foundation and exterior walls lightly. Cracks grow gradually, and if ignored they can bring down the whole building.
- Foundation level settling
A weak foundation at times appears to be sunk on one side leaving the entire building in a slanted position. This means that your foundation is unstable and if nothing is done in good time, the situation can get even worse.
- Doors and windows not closing properly
If you notice that the doors of a building don’t close properly all over sudden, then there is a high probability that the foundation has a problem. When the foundation of a building is not stable, it makes other parts of the building uneven hence your doors and windows are shifted from their original frame position.
Granite Foundation Repair points out that other issues with doors and windows may point to problems with foundation:
– Cracks forming in windows
– Door and window openings are out of square
– Diagonal cracks that start at top corners of windows and door openings
– Windows need extra force to open or close
- Uneven floor
When the foundation of a building is weak, the floor automatically becomes uneven. This is due to the movement of the foundation that automatically interferes with the uniform level of a buildings’ floor. This leads to some parts of the floor to develop bumps.
- Separation of cabinets and frame fittings from the walls
Cabinets are typically installed and fitted on building walls. You might have seen some cabinets that get detached from the building walls. This can be a sign that the foundation of the building has a problem causing the walls of the building to shift.
- Cracks on the floor
Since an unstable foundation tends to move, it forces the floor to stretch or contract causing it to develop cracks. These are the type of cracks that keep on growing until they are big enough to bring down a building. Although not all floor cracks are as a result of bad foundations, if the cracks are way too many then you need to look at your foundation or you can make a try with with floor shields or others.
- Nails popping from the walls
You might have seen some buildings that have nails popping out of the dry walls. Although it seems harmless and easy to fix, you should know that it could be an indication that the foundation is not stable.
- Walls of a building pulling away
Since a bad foundation is one that shifts easily, it interferes with the whole building. Because the walls are firmly attached to the foundation, you will notice that the walls of a building are pulling apart especially at the corners.
An unstable foundation is a risk that is difficult to identify if you have no idea. Never assume the little things like the windows pulling off from the wall frames or exterior doors refusing to close properly all over sudden. You might be at risk of getting crushed when a building collapses due to a weak foundation.
