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With spring and summer often comes abundant rainfall, and that can bring up issues within the home. Flooding and water leak issues are often first seen in the basement and foundation, and can wreak havoc on homes and homeowners.

“Waterproofing is a term that is utilized to describe the general work of managing water that is around the foundation of a home,” Thomas Trinko, President, Basement Repair Specialists in Appleton, explains. “This can mean many things, including waterproofing membranes against the wall of the foundation, drainage systems that manage water inside and outside the home, sump pumps to remove water that has accumulated inside the home (perfectly normal for this to happen), and dehumidification systems to remove moisture from the air and create a healthier breathing environment for inhabitants.”

The foundation is one of the most important aspects of a property. A sinking foundation can compromise the structural integrity of your home, resulting in dangerous living conditions and expensive home repairs. As a homeowner, it’s important to be aware of warning signs, prevention techniques, and foundation repair methods. This will help you act quickly and strategically if and when foundation damage is discovered.
“We have a lot of clay soils here,” Jamie Budiac, General Manager of Sure-Dry, LLC in Menasha, explains. “So what happens with clay soils is when it gets wet, it expands and that expansion of the soil pushes in on the walls. Sometimes those walls can’t handle it and they will break and crack and they’ll start to push in. We’ve got systems that can pull those walls back.”

Homeowners should know that minor foundation shifts are to be expected. As time passes, properties settle into the ground causing their foundations to shift slightly. Issues arise when a home’s foundation shifts too frequently or abruptly, such as after an earthquake. There are two ways homeowners can categorize changes to their foundation: sinking and shifting.

‍A sinking foundation can be caused by changes to the soil beneath the home, due to factors such as extreme weather, erosion, or poor drainage. Excessive downward pressure concentrated in one area of the home could also lead to the home’s foundation bending inward. This causes the home to appear as if it is sinking in the middle. A sinking foundation is extremely dangerous and can render a property uninhabitable.

‍A shifting foundation isn’t as concerning. As long as the shifts are small a shifting foundation shouldn’t cause major issues. The dirt under your home’s foundation naturally shifts over time, causing some level of breakage to your foundation settlement. Generally, homes located in warm climates with high humidity levels or coastal cities with a high risk of earthquakes are more vulnerable to rapid foundation shifts. However, a shifting foundation can become a sinking foundation if foundation damage remains unattended for an extended period.
Warning signs of a sinking foundation
The key to keeping your home safe and foundation repair costs low is to detect foundation damage as early as possible.
“Some of the signs that homeowners may notice in a home that point to a needed repair are vertical and/or horizontal cracks on foundation or basement walls, dampness on concrete blocks, mold growth, musty smell in the air, wood rot on sill plates or finished wall framing, or water entering the basement during periods of precipitation,” Trinko explains.  
Foundation walls tend to move over time. It’s a natural occurrence and not usually a cause for concern. As time passes, small settlement movements can cause vertical hairline cracks that are barely visible along your home’s exterior and interior walls. These minor cracks are to be expected and minimally problematic.

‍Horizontal cracks, on the other hand, pose a greater threat — concrete block walls should not be cracking in multiple places. Larger cracks following a zigzag pattern on a home’s exterior walls are clear signs of foundation damage. Any cracks wider than a quarter of an inch should be assessed by a foundation expert.

Sagging or bouncing floorboards is another sign of a destabilized foundation. At first, your floors may start to squeak, but if they start lifting or sinking when you walk on them, chances are the foundation beneath them has been compromised. In most cases, homeowners will discover that the foundation has settled incorrectly or their home’s support beams have shifted.

Not all homeowners know that foundation damage can easily be spotted in the kitchen. While bouncing floorboards and wall cracks are two of the more apparent signs, crooked cabinets, and dislodged counters are also signs of a crumbling foundation. Cabinet doors can loosen due to overuse. However, the frame in which a cabinet is placed should never be loose. Loose cabinet frames and kitchen countertops could be signs of foundation issues in the home.

The condition of your home’s siding also helps identify foundation issues. Cracked or warped siding can indicate cracks or gaps between your home’s siding and concrete foundation. These gaps are dangerous because they allow moisture and pests in — which only complicates your home maintenance needs. In addition to addressing foundation repairs, you may also need to address moisture accumulation or termite infestations. Both moisture accumulation and termite infestations are time-sensitive issues that should be addressed as soon as possible.

Similar to cabinets and countertops, foundation shifts can cause doors to separate from their original positions. Cabinet and countertop separations can make it difficult to open and close doors without them getting stuck. In some cases, a door may even visibly stick out of its door frame. ‍

You may notice these occurrences during the warmer months, given that increased humidity levels often cause wooden frames to shift. However, if your doors are difficult to open and close year-round, you should order a foundation inspection immediately to assess the ground beneath your home’s doors.
“So what we do is we come in and rather than putting that same system back in, we actually will take and bust the floor on the perimeter of the home and then our product is called WaterGuard,” Budiac explains. “WaterGuard actually sits on top of that footing next to the wall rather than sitting in that mud zone. And so when we put our system in, it also has clean up ports in it, meaning there’s little caps that we can pull off so we can flush that system.”

Lastly, another sign of foundation damage is running into plumbing and drainage issues. A sinking foundation can pinch pipes, creating proper drainage and flow issues throughout the property. Additionally, you may see water pools around the home, especially around uneven floors. It can indicate that the wooden panels on top of your home’s foundation are starting to rot or are rotted. Replacing these wooden panels can be expensive, so it’s important to ensure your gutters and other drainage systems are functioning year-round.
“Some of the things homeowners can do to prevent and/or delay the need for a repair are to properly maintain gutters and downspout extensions,” Trinko says. “The most common reason for water next to a foundation is the lack of a good gutter system on the home, and once water finds its way to a place next to a foundation, it is very difficult to manage it, short of a water control solution of some sort.  In addition, regular maintenance of the yard by trimming back bushes that may collect water, mulching regularly to ensure that water tends to dissipate over time instead of pouring into the ground, and ensuring that the yard pitches away from basement and/or foundation walls are all great steps one can take to reduce the likelihood of a repair down the road.”

If you notice any of the warning signs listed above, reach out to a foundation expert to determine the next steps. Sinking foundations require special tools and industry knowledge to fix. Only certified foundation experts can identify exactly where your foundation is sinking, the extent of the damage to your home, and how to fix it. 
“Of course, we have all heard about worst case scenarios where a home has so much foundation damage that it is not practically salvageable or even a wall has collapsed catastrophically. In practice, this is rare. The biggest risks to a homeowner in not attending to problems with a foundation or basement is they can get much more expensive to address if delayed, because the needed repairs can get more and more involved,” Trinko says.

Basement underpinning is a foundation repair method that requires an excavation of the area around the foundation to install hydraulic piers. Foundation repair experts will install these piers at various points beneath a home’s foundation to stabilize the entire structure. Underpinning is considered a more permanent foundation repair, even if the soil beneath it continues to shift. Homeowners usually spend $1,000 to $3,000 per helical pier.

Mud jacking also involves leveling a home, except it doesn’t require excavation or heavy equipment. Also referred to as slab jacking, this process involves pumping a grout mixture into a space below a home’s concrete slab foundation. The grout mixture floats into the correct position and, consequently, levels the home. While mud jacking is a cheaper alternative to basement underpinning, it’s not a permanent solution to foundation damage. You’ll need to continue maintaining your home’s foundation as it settles. Mud jacking costs between $500 and $1,800 to complete.

New on the scene is an expanding foam.
“It’s much more controlled, not nearly as messy, and more of a permanent or long term solution,” Budiac says.

Not all foundation damage is due to soil shifts. Some foundation damage is a result of improper drainage and moisture accumulation within a crawl space. In this case, you may benefit more from sealing your foundation than leveling it. Foundation sealing involves waterproofing your foundation to prevent mold and mildew growth beneath your home. This technique costs anywhere between $2,300 and $7,575 to implement.
“We have something called crawl space encapsulation… so homes that are on crawl spaces, which would be not a full basement, but probably maybe 4 feet or less… a lot of times those are on dirt floors,” Budiac says. “We can come in and encapsulate that with a liner… it prevents humidity and moisture coming up through the earth, getting the wood soft and rotting and musty stinky.”

A less invasive and more preventative method for foundation damage is foundation reinforcement. Minor foundation damage can usually be fixed by filling in a few cracks. This process is referred to as foundation reinforcement and is most effective when the foundation is showing minor signs of instability but is not yet sinking. Depending on the size and amount of foundation cracks that need reinforcing, this technique costs between $700 and $5,000 per section.

Foundation repair costs depend on the foundation repair method used, the type of foundation being repaired, and the severity of the damage. On average, homeowners spend about $4,974 on foundation repair costs. In rare cases, severe foundation problems necessitate a full foundation replacement, which can cost between $50,000 to over $100,000. Given the high cost of repair, most homeowners won’t go through with a complete foundation replacement, rendering the home uninhabitable. ‍

“The longer an issue goes unnoticed, the more potential the problem has to get worse and become a more costly repair,” Martin says.
If the home is salvageable, homeowners should look into their financing options to fund foundation repairs. Some options even come with zero interest.
Given the high and unpredictable costs of foundation repairs, it’s best for homeowners to avoid or at least mitigate foundation damage whenever possible. Scheduling regular inspections and maintaining landscaping is key to detecting foundation issues before they escalate. It’s also important to do a walkthrough of your property after severe weather conditions.

“Our team can do inspections, air quality tests and foundation repair year-round,” Martin says. “Homeowners should reach out to our team as soon as they see concerns in their foundation such as dampness, cracks, peeling paint, water on floors or walls.”

“We highly recommend you get a few opinions before making a decision. There are many good companies in our industry, and you will hear different things from different people,” Trinko adds. “An informed decision is the best.  This is not a situation where the highest priced solution is necessarily the best solution, nor is it one where the lowest priced offering is a good idea.  It all depends on what the proposed remedy is for the particular solution at hand, and it’s really important to know ‘why’ the company is proposing a particular repair. Get educated before making a decision.”