1
Sticking or uneven doors
Doors that stick, swing open after being pushed shut, or show a gap along the top or bottom are one of the earliest signals that the frame is no longer square.
How Do You Know It’s Time to Call?
Knowing the early warning signs of foundation trouble can head off problems that ultimately cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix. The sooner you identify a potential problem, the easier — and less expensive — it is to fix.
Inside the House
The 5 Basic Indoor Warning Signs
Houses settle over time, and a little unevenness isn’t cause for panic. At the same time, you’ll want to be alert to these signs that more dramatic changes are taking place.
2
Cracks in drywall
The most common sign of a foundation problem. Look around door frames, in ceilings, in corners and along walls — especially cracks running diagonally from a corner.
3
Cracks in tile
Tile is brittle and inelastic. When the slab beneath it shifts, tile chips and cracks before almost anything else in the room does.
4
Windows that stick or separate
If the frame of your home shifts with a settling foundation, windows become hard to open, stick in the track, or develop separations around the framing.
5
Sloping or uneven floors
Your support structure was designed to hold what sits on top of it. Unstable soil, poor support design or water intrusion can damage the foundation and leave floors visibly out of level.
Around the Outside
Check Outside for More Clues
Walk the perimeter slowly. The exterior tells you how far the movement has already travelled through the structure.
6
Cracks in brick
Brick cracks are more than cosmetic — stair-step cracking through mortar joints is a structural signal, and it is far cheaper to address before it widens.
7
Cracks in the foundation itself
A concrete slab is made to bend and flex to a point. When the foundation moves and flexes past that point, the slab cracks.
8
A leaning or cracking chimney
Your chimney is the heaviest part of the house and concentrates enormous weight in a small footprint. If the soil under it is unstable, it leans or its brick cracks first.
9
Fascia and frieze board separation
The roof line is directly affected by foundation settlement. Frieze boards separate at the corners and fascia boards pull away from the structure.
Self-Assessment
Tick What You’ve Noticed
This is not a diagnosis — only an elevation survey can give you that. It is a fast way to see whether what you’re looking at is worth a phone call.
60-Second Self-Check
Your answers travel with your inspection request, so we arrive already knowing what to look at.
Reading the Evidence
What Do All the Signs Mean?
There are two basic types of structural foundation damage: walls destabilized due to lateral pressure from swollen soil or settling, and a dropped or sunken foundation due to soil compaction or desiccation.
Destabilized walls
This is arguably the less serious of the two and can usually be repaired by stabilizing the wall. Damage left unrepaired for a long time may mean a wall must be rebuilt. Bowed or bulging block or masonry walls, or cracked poured concrete walls, indicate a destabilized wall — as does a concrete wall that is out of plumb. Upstairs windows and doors are misaligned above the affected section, and water seepage often occurs.
A dropped foundation
When a foundation drops, the problem is serious and requires major repair — underpinning is required to raise the foundation back to level and stabilize it there. Floors will be out of level and walls out of plumb, and there may be significant cracking of both. Outside, you will notice major cracking of stone or brickwork, large gaps around windows and doors, and separation of chimneys and additions.
If you are buying or selling
If either has occurred, a prospective buyer need not be scared away from the purchase, but should approach it armed with an accurate estimate for repairs that will be part of the price negotiation. Even the worst structural foundation damage can be permanently repaired and make the house into a stable and secure home for generations to come.
Whether you are a buyer, a seller, or an ongoing homeowner, repairing a foundation is no do-it-yourself job — you’ll need expert help. The foundation repair experts at Paramount Foundation Repair base all their recommendations on engineering data and detailed inspection, not a “good eye for foundations.”
Questions
What Homeowners Ask Us First
Are all foundation cracks a serious problem?
No. Houses settle over time and a little unevenness is not cause for panic. What matters is whether the movement is recent and ongoing. A crack that appeared recently can indicate active resettlement of the foundation, and in some cases minor repair is all that is needed to cover it up. That is exactly what an elevation survey tells us.
What are the two kinds of structural foundation damage?
The first is a wall destabilized by lateral pressure from swollen soil or settling — usually the less serious of the two, and normally repaired by stabilizing the wall. The second is a dropped or sunken foundation caused by soil compaction or desiccation. That one is serious and requires underpinning to raise the foundation back to level and stabilize it there.
Should a foundation problem stop me from buying the house?
Not necessarily. A prospective buyer need not be scared away from the purchase, but should approach it armed with an accurate estimate for repairs that becomes part of the price negotiation. Even the worst structural foundation damage can be permanently repaired and make the house stable and secure for generations to come.
Can I repair a foundation myself?
Repairing a foundation is no do-it-yourself job. You will need expert help. What you should insist on is that the recommendation is based on engineering data and a detailed inspection — not on someone's "good eye for foundations."
What does the free inspection actually include?
A comprehensive inspection with exterior and interior damage notes plus a precise elevation survey. That combination is what lets us design an accurate plan of repair — but only if one is needed. If your foundation is fine, we will tell you so.
Free, No-Obligation Inspection
Not Sure What You’re Looking At? Let Us Take a Look.
An inspection costs you nothing and takes the guesswork out of it. We document interior and exterior damage, run a precise elevation survey, and hand you a plan — or the good news that you don’t need one.
- Interior & exterior inspection with written damage notes
- Precise elevation survey — the actual numbers, not an opinion
- A clear plan of repair, priced up front
- Straight answer if no repair is needed