Did you know that the dirt beneath your feet is not all the same?
In fact, the Earth’s soil is composed of granular particles that vary depending on where you are. Even within a specific area, the soil composition can differ significantly. Take Lockhart, TX, for example, where the soil threatens the very foundations of many homes. Don’t underestimate the importance of understanding the soil beneath you – it could mean the difference between a stable home and costly repairs.
CenTex Lockhart Foundation Services
The Foundation’s Foundation
The ground beneath our feet isn’t necessarily as firm as it feels firm most of the time. The one thing we wonder is this: Will it stay that way? How do we know? Why does the earth beneath one’s home matter?
It matters because it is the support that underlies the foundation of your home. It’s what keeps the windows opening smoothly and keeps the walls free of cracks. It keeps the doors from sticking and the floors from canting. The ground is the foundation’s foundation.
The average person living in Lockhart, TX, expects to live in a level environment. It is something that people take for granted until suddenly, something changes. Perhaps an earthquake occurs.
Ensuring the stability of your home is vital for your safety and peace of mind. Earthquakes aren’t the only threat to the foundation beneath your home. Any geological movement could put it in danger. Don’t take any chances — safeguard your living space today.
Foundation Inspection
Before purchasing a home in the Lockhart, TX area, those shopping for a home should consider hiring a professional to perform an inspection of the home’s foundation. Foundation inspections allow people to be informed as they enter into a purchase agreement.
Any homeowner with reason to suspect the ground beneath him is rising and falling, as evidenced by symptoms occurring in his home’s foundation, should schedule an inspection too. An accurate assessment of a home’s foundation allows people the opportunity to make responsible decisions concerning it.
When a professional from Lockhart, TX visits your home to inspect its foundation, they will thoroughly check for signs of trouble, such as uneven floors, sticky doors and drawers, cracks, leaning, and more. By measuring your home and drawing it to scale, they can accurately identify any areas with high or low elevation. Once the inspection is complete, the inspector will sit down with you to discuss their findings and help you find practical and cost-effective solutions that meet your unique foundation repair needs.
Foundation Repairs
Discover the reassuring news that Foundation Repair services are here to help with any type of foundation problem, whether your home has a concrete or post-and-beam foundation. Each foundation issue is unique, dependent on factors like the ground beneath your property and the design of your home. Let us help identify and solve any foundation problems you may encounter.
Concrete Foundations
Concrete foundations are slab foundations, and buildings are constructed directly on top of them. Building a foundation strong enough to support a home requires the creation of a steel rebar frame. This frame gets lowered over a depression of prepared sand, which cushions it. Next, concrete is poured into the depression to the thickness desired, usually 4-6″.
In order to maximize strength, tension cables may be used in lieu of or in conjunction with rebar. Grade beams, which are typically placed beneath perimeter and load bearing walls, are standard practice. For areas like Lockhart, TX, where there is no permafrost, concrete slabs are a popular foundation choice. However, frozen soil is a possible cause of soil heaving in colder climates.
Fortunately, if a concrete foundation in Lockhart, TX is impacted by soil movement, there are effective solutions available.
Pier and Beam Foundations
Pier and beam foundations in Lockhart, TX are the traditional type involving multiple posts or piers installed in holes dug beneath the building. First, the piers get created and leveled, and then steel beams are installed on top of them to provide the building’s foundation. This means is an ancient style of foundation and found throughout the country.
This type of foundation generally affords the home crawl space beneath it, an area whose size varies but provides access beneath the home. Pier and beam foundations are as vulnerable as any other to dirt movement below the ground’s surface.
Pier and Beam Foundation Repair involves first removing the skirting and temporarily shoring the foundation. Next, two-foot holes are dug and reinforced with rebar and poured over with concrete to create pads. The home is leveled mechanically with hydraulic jacks and then forms placed in the gap between the original footing and the new beam. Tiny discrepancies are shimmed, and the house, at last, rests levelly.
Repair Warranty
Repairs to the foundation of one’s Lockhart TX home become a permanent part of the home’s necessary paperwork. Look for a company that will stand behind the work they perform to level your foundation. Also, reputable companies are generally willing to stand behind their work by issuing a fully transferrable guarantee to anyone who purchases the home.
It took knowledgeable planning and hard work to level your home, and just as new homeowners should receive the paperwork for the roof over their heads, they should receive the warranty for the work performed to keep their foundation level below. Be aware that the work the company performed is warrantied, not the entire foundation of the home.
Just as a Lockhart, TX homeowner must watch out for slow-growing algae making their steps slipper or the fact that their shingles are beginning to show their age; they must also watch out for signs that the foundation of their home is experiencing distress. If in doubt, call for an inspection. Foundation problems left untreated are prone to causing more damage inside the house when the issues go unaddressed.