Problem Signs
What causes foundation problems, such as bulking and bulging walls, cracks, and settlement? AquaGuard is here to offer insight—and options for repair!
AquaGuard Foundation Solutions
Cracked Chimney
Cracked chimney repair throughout Atlanta and North Georgia.
AquaGuard Foundation Solutions
Bowing Walls
Identify and repair issues related to bowing basement walls and bowing foundation walls.
AquaGuard Foundation Solutions
Sticking Windows & Doors
Have you noticed sticking doors and windows throughout your house? Before you reach for the toolbox, discover how the real problem may be linked to a settling foundation.
AquaGuard Foundation Solutions
Foundation Heave
Foundation Or Slab Heave (Slab Upheaval). How heaving foundations & slabs lead to damage of your home.
Causes
Here are a few of the common causes of foundation problems we will look for during your inspection:
If there aren’t proper drainage solutions installed on your property, water can pool around your foundation walls and cause serious damage. Signs that water is being improperly channeled around the perimeter of your home include:
- Leaking, overflowing gutters
- Downspouts that dump water directly into the soil surrounding your home
- Soil erosion
- Puddles in yard after heavy rain
- Efflorescence on foundation walls
- Mold or mildew in basement or crawl space
Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure that standing water in the soil surrounding your home places on your foundation. The pull of gravity causes the water to push hard against anything that restricts its flow—in this case, your foundation walls. Hydrostatic pressure can cause foundation walls to crack and bow, and can even force water through the smallest of fractures and the wall-floor joint.
The soil in Atlanta and the surrounding areas is known as Georgia Red Clay. Georgia Red Clay is an expansive soil, known for expanding when it is wet and shrinking when it is dry. This creates two problems for your foundation:
- When expansive soils are wet, they expand and place a significant amount of pressure against your foundation walls. When the pressure is too much for your foundation to bear, your foundation walls will give way by bowing and cracking.
- When expansive soils dry out, they shrink and pull away from your foundation walls. This causes your foundation to settle, leading to differential settlement and foundation cracks.
To level depressed or hollow areas where a foundation will be built, or to fill in gaps once a foundation has been poured, contactors sometimes bring in loose fill soil. This freshly disrupted fill soil is much looser than the dense, hard-packed virgin soils on site. If fill soil isn’t compacted well, it may compress underneath the weight of the new home, creating settlement problems that can cause foundation damage.
While tree roots are unlikely to push through your foundation walls, they can cause damage by disrupting the soils around your home. During drought, clay soils dry and cause roots to shrink. When it rains, the roots absorb water and expand. This constant expansion and shrinkage of tree roots causes soils to become weak and less supportive, often leading to foundation settlement.
Heavy rain and busted pipes can lead to soil washout under your foundation. When soil washes out from under your home, foundation settlement can occur, leading to foundation cracks.
Solutions
No matter what symptoms your foundation may be experiencing, our team of Atlanta foundation repair solution experts has a solution for you.
AquaGuard Foundation Solutions
Commercial Helical Piles
Provide the ultimate protection for your building’s foundation to prevent further shifting or settling.
AquaGuard Foundation Solutions
IntelliBrace™ Wall Repair System
The IntelliBrace™ Foundation Wall Repair System is AquaGuard’s warrantied solution for basement wall repair.
AquaGuard Foundation Solutions
Push Pier Systems
The AquaGuard Push Pier System utilizes high-strength round steel tube and a load transfer bracket (retrofit foundation repair bracket) to stabilize and/or lift sinking or settling foundations.
AquaGuard Foundation Solutions
Tieback Anchors
Helical Anchors (also referred to as tiebacks) provide lateral stability to foundation walls and retaining walls with unbalanced earth pressures.
FAQs
A home with foundation problems can be dangerous for both your health and your finances. Foundation damage will only get worse with time, which means that the longer you put it off, the more expensive it will be to repair. When the damage is caught early enough, foundation problems may cause no immediate threat to your livelihood. Small foundation cracks can be quick and easy to repair. Foundation problems that have been neglected over many years, however, can cause major structural damage to the home. For example, a settling foundation can cause severe damage and can eventually lead to other issues with your foundation walls and floor.
From severe expanding wall cracks to sinking floors, our company has the solution to fix your foundation. Here at AquaGuard Foundation Solutions, there’s no residential foundation problem we can’t fix!
For our contractors, a typical home foundation repair takes less than a week to complete.
The cost of your foundation repair will depend on how severe the damage is and what method is used. At AquaGuard, we take pride in making the costs associated with your foundation repair clear and easy to understand—we provide free foundation repair quotes that include an on-site inspection and a detailed cost proposal. We’re confident that we provide the most thorough, practical, and transparent solutions in North Georgia. However, if you receive a lower-priced proposal for the same scope of work and materials, as a part of our price assurance guarantee, we’ll beat it by $100.
Resources
