How to recognize any foundation-related issues
Since problems with a home’s foundation can lead to costly repairs, you need to be able to recognize any foundation-related issues you may have in your own house. It’s understandably difficult to physically look at your home’s foundation without Googling “foundation repair Erie PA” and hiring a professional for an inspection, but you might still see a few things around your home if you look hard enough.
First of all, take a look at your doors and windows. If they don’t open smoothly or don’t close properly, you might have an uneven foundation that is affecting their alignment. In the case of windows, you might even see some hairline cracks if your foundation problem has gotten particularly bad.
After you’re finished inspecting your doors and windows, look at the walls in your home. If you have a bad foundation, your walls might show a few cracks, particularly near the ceiling on the upper floors of your house. These cracks will be vertical and may be hard to see at first, but they may get worse and more visible over time.
Finally, look at the floors in your house. A foundation in need of repair might cause some of your floors to slope, bulge, and otherwise appear to be uneven. If you have tile or concrete floors, you might even see some cracks. This sounds like something that should be obvious if you’re looking for signs of a bad foundation, but a bad floor may not be as obvious as a crack in a window or a wall.
These are all things that could be caused by something other than a bad foundation, but you should definitely call someone to at least inspect your own home’s foundation if you notice more than one of these signs. Like all things related to home improvement, it will be much easier and cheaper to fix a minor foundation problem than one that has been allowed to grow out of hand.