Foundation Repair Aberdeen
Aberdeen has a long history in Maryland, starting as a village, growing into a town and eventually becoming its own city towards the end of the 20th century. It is a proud city that makes contributions of the freedom and defense of the country in the form of the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Then there’s the Ripken family that has made big contributions to the legacy of baseball history. They’ve even brought the town its own team as the Aberdeen Ironbirds now play regularly at Ripken Stadium.
In many respects, Aberdeen residents have a lot to be grateful for, living in a safe, nurturing city that has many things going for it. But at the same time, there’s still a problem that Aberdeen residents may potentially face, as do other Americans. And the only solution for it is a team that specializes in foundation repair in Aberdeen.
A Fundamental Problem
It’s not something that many people will think about, but the foundation of a home can sometimes have problems, and when that happens, the problem is going to be serious and needs to be addressed. The foundation is a vital architectural element of any home. A building can’t simply be built over dirt. Dirt is soft and malleable, given to changes from erosion, water and many other factors that sometimes make it unpredictable as a base on which an entire building sits on. The foundation is the solution to this problem, creating a solid, load bearing platform that takes the weight of the entire structure and then distributes that weight to the ground around and under which it is built. In this way, the home sits on a much more stable base that provides the solidity many people take for granted and simply don’t think about.
And it’s because of this that many people fail to realize that as solid and immovable as a foundation may seem, it’s not indestructible. It may take time, and it could be any number of factors, but foundations can—and do—get damaged. And this can affect the stability and safety of the entire home, bringing down the overall property value at the very least, and becoming a serious hazard to the people that live inside at the very worst. In either case, a good foundation repair team in Aberdeen is the solution to this problem, what exactly happens when a foundation is damaged?
Slow Misalignment
The real secret to the seriousness of a foundation problem is the scale at which it works. Most things that break happen fairly quickly; when a tire blows out, you know it, when a light bulb expires, it suddenly flares and dies. That’s not how foundation damage works. It takes years for the effects to kick in, because this is a slow, steady, erosive process that works in inches, over long periods of time. This is damage at a geological pace and most people don’t have the predisposition to notice damage occurring at such a slow speed.
In essence, damage to a foundation can occur primarily in two ways. The foundation can become damaged when the weight it is designed bear gets applied to the wrong places. This usually occurs because either the foundation itself has moved, or the soil upon which it was resting has moved, creating areas where the foundation is sitting atop nothing, and therefore has nothing to help it bear the weight of the home. Once this unequal distribution of weight occurs, the foundation will experience stresses that can slowly tear it apart. Floors that were once level become warped as parts of the home sink while others don’t. Steps leading up to the home can crack as the house moves in different directions.
The other damage occurs directly to the foundation itself. Cracks may appear in the foundation, or water can start leaking inside that damages both the foundation itself as well as the soil around it, which further accelerates degeneration of the foundation. This can occur because of poor craftsmanship in some cases, but in others, it can simply be because greater amounts of water or moisture than were anticipated during the construction of the home are now present. In unfinished basements, water seeping in or concrete walls cracking are big problems. In finished basements however, this can be very serious, and expensive because of the repairs that must be conducted to the drywall, carpeting or other home features already in place. And even then those repairs will have to be conducted again if the problem with the foundation isn’t sorted out once and for all.
What To Do
A team experienced in foundation repair in Aberdeen is the only real solution to this problem. Damaged foundations are extensive, large scale problems that a quick DIY fix simply cannot address. A seasoned company like AA Action Waterproofing has years of experience in this area, and will know what to do. It starts with an initial inspection. The most important step is assessing the damage and finding out exactly what caused it. From there, you can receive an expert report on the extent of the damage, and, more importantly how it can be fixed and what the scope of the work will involve.
In some cases, such as cracked cement walls in an unfinished basement, the work may only involve injecting hydraulic cement in order to seal the cracks. For foundations that have slipped, it might require far more extensive work, such as buttressing an entire section of the foundation back up to previous levels through a process known as “mudjacking.”
Regardless of the scope of the work, it takes a team that knows and understands foundation repair in Aberdeen to professionally, knowledgeably handle foundation problems. AA Action Waterproofing is one of those teams. If you think you need help with your foundation, let us help.