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Hi! Damion Rutherford here again with JES with another episode of chalkboard chat.
Where we answer your questions about foundation repair, crawl space repair and basement
waterproofing. This is our second video in the series and
we’re going to discuss some common foundation repair problem signs that you may
see in your own home and what they mean. Today we’re talking about stair-step cracks
in a block foundation. Here’s a good example where you’ll see
cracks start to develop in a basement wall. And they’ll actually form a stair-step pattern
where they’ll go across the top of a block and down a block and across and so forth.
Right along the mortar and in between the blocks. Now remember the mortar is what
holds the block wall together. It’s the glue and a sign that there’s been movement
in the foundation which has caused it to crack. This is a picture we showed in our last video
where started out as a horizontal crack, which is common. As the wall starts
to move more the damage worsens and stair-step cracking starts to occur.
Which a lot of times you’ll see towards the outside corners of the foundation.
Here’s another good example where it’s following right along the mortar joint
pretty well.So once again to understand what is happening here, you want to know
how your home was built to begin with.First of all when they built your home
they dug a big hole.They dig out the dirt. They build your foundation.
Put the rest of the house up and then they fill that hole back up. And then you
have a house of course. Now this here is your loose backfill. To the
right of where I’ve highlighted here, is this dense *** soil which hasn’t been
touched, is compacted, and isn’t as easily disrupted by rain and what happens
is when it rains, the ground becomes saturated and that soil will expand as it
gets wet and contracts when it gets dry. This back and forth movement puts a lot of
pressure from the soil against your foundation wall.As the pressure builds, it
weakens the wall and that’s what causes a lot of the foundation cracks that you’ll
see in your basement walls. And you’ll see in this picture here as it
worsens and worsens and pushes more you’ll get complete separation where there’s nothing
holding the wall pieces together. Which you can see in this picture here. A
little blurry, I agree but the mortar’s completely separated, there’s no bond whatsoever.
At that point you’ll have a worse case scenario where you’ll have a wall collapse.
This is the last thing that you want to happen where the wall collapses
You can just look at the complete mess this makes, the damage it does not only to
the wall but the cost of replacing the wall. Not only that but all the other damage it
does to the house just because there’s nothing supporting the house now.
If you look at this picture you’ll see a row of blocks there just holding up pieces.
So very, very disturbing, not what you want to have happen whatsoever.
So if you see any signs of stair-step cracking in your foundation the best idea is
to have a certified foundation repair contractor examine it.
At JES we do the inspection free of charge. We can find out what’s causing the
problem and why. As well as what options you have available. So feel free to give
us a call or visit our website at http://www.jeswork.com. For some more great information on foundation
repair problem signs we have a special section on foundation repair under
JESwork.com/foundationrepair. You’ll find a lot more great information
on the problem signs as well as solutions available to correct that.
And that’s it! I hope you find this information useful, we’ll be continuing this
and showing more problem signs in foundations. If you found the information helpful,
do me a favor, click on the “like” button right below here and “like” the video.
Lets me know that you really appreciate the info and I’d appreciate that.
If you have a comment about what we discussed here anything you want to ask say
it below, leave a comment right on the video or right on our YouTube channel.
And that is it! This is Damion Rutherford with JES with another episode of
Chalkboard Chat and we will talk to you next time.