Home Maintenance and Repairs

The most important overall factor in the avoidance of the cost of home foundation repair is the maintenance of uniform moisture content of expansive soils. Homes and commercial buildings built on slab on grade and pier and beam foundations in areas of expansive clay soils will always have this challenge.

The Steel Piling Method of foundation repair is a more advanced version of the concrete piling and concrete piling with insert methods. It has resolved a couple of the disadvantages of these two earlier methods but its overall performance as a long term foundation repair method is poor and inadequate.

Underslab plumbing leaks can pose unique problems for commercial and residential foundations. They can be leaks that have been occurring gradually over time or a sudden catastrophic leak that occurs suddenly. In the southern United States much of the incoming water is routed through pipes located in the attic. Leaks in these pipes are relatively easy to repair because they are easy to access. However, usually the outgoing sewage and waste water is routed underneath the concrete foundation.

Flooding, and the damage it causes building structures and home foundations, has become a greater problem today than in the past. Part of the problem can be attributed to the fact that more homes and commercial buildings are being built in areas prone to flooding.

When the Bell Bottom Pier method of foundation repair is selected the property owner has made a choice to employ the "old fashioned" method. Unlike other foundation repair methods, the Bell Bottom Pier method has been thoroughly tested and is the most reliable and most permanent solution for concrete slab foundations.

The Pressed Piling with Insert method of foundation repair was developed in the 1980s in an effort to eliminate one of the major disadvantages with its predecessor, the pressed piling method. The primary driving force behind the development of these methods was the desire to raise the profit margins of the foundation repair companies by lowering the installation costs.

Home Foundation Repair has or will become an unfortunate circumstance for millions of homeowners in the United States. Most of the home foundations built in the past on expansive soils will experience movement and damage.

The poured concrete pier, or Bell Bottom Pier, method of foundation repair is the most thoroughly researched and most permanent solution for concrete slab foundations. There are a number of methods of foundation repair available to building owners and homeowners. Some of these methods are quick and relatively cheap.

The vast majority of commercial and residential foundations built in the past sixty years have been poured concrete. And unfortunately, many property owners will need Concrete Foundation Repair services to stabilize their building structures. This is particularly true in the southern part of the United States where the actual problem is not the concrete foundation, but the expansive soil underneath.

Concrete Slab Repair should be undertaken only after a determination has been made as to the cause. The worst thing a repair company can do is to make a repair that fails at a later date. The concrete slab, also called slab-on-grade, should be carefully examined to establish the cause. Only then can a repair company make a qualified suggestion for repair and stabilization.