Becoming a homeowner is exciting, but it can also be a little daunting. Many responsibilities follow signing your name on a deed or a mortgage agreement, including taking care of your property to protect your most significant investment.
One of the most essential pieces of maintaining your home is caring for the integrity of your home’s foundation. Here are 10 reasons you should prioritize your East Texas foundation.
- Gravity Is Working Against You
Gravity is weighing heavily on your home’s structure. The larger the house, the more quickly it will be acted upon and begin sinking into the ground.
This is especially true if your home is built on clay soils that expand, contract, and shift with the rain and temperature changes.
- Procrastination is Costly
You should act at the first sign of foundation problems to keep repair costs to a minimum. Common signs of foundation issues in Texas include hairline cracks in concrete around the home or floors and ceilings, warped flooring, and door frames that have shifted.
Waiting to call a professional for foundation repair in Longview, TX, or the surrounding areas will only make slab repair more expensive.
- The Longer You Wait, The Longer it Takes to Correct.
If you procrastinate, your slab foundation repair will take much more extensive correction, and therefore you’ll be unable to use your property that much longer.
There will probably be other damage on the property, like cracks, plumbing, flooring, and more that will need to be repaired if you wait on slab leveling.
- The Earth is Shifting, So Your Home is Shifting
Even if you don’t live in an area prone to earthquakes or near a tectonic plate, your home is ultimately set on ground that will move and be affected by the elements over the years.
- Foundation Damage Effects the Worth of Your Home
Home inspectors are looking for foundational issues. If you’re looking to sell your home, it’s wise to go ahead and take care of house leveling and foundation repair yourself.
This will allow you to list your home at a higher resale value instead of being negotiated down from your asking price due to a faulty foundation.
- Other Repairs are Sure to Follow
If you have waited to take care of your slab leveling in Longview or the surrounding area, other issues will likely have to be addressed.
The most affordable foundation repair is one that happens at the first signs of trouble. If you’ve paid to correct the symptoms of a damaged foundation, but you’ve neglected to address the foundation issues themselves, these fixes won’t last long.
Now, you’ll likely have to pay for foundation repair services, but also the same corrective services like reframing doors and windows, correcting flooring issues, or resolving plumbing problems.
- Foundation Problems Could Lead to Collapse
In severe cases, a house leveling company may tell homeowners that the cost of repairing the foundation is more than the value of their home. In such cases, when foundation leveling is neglected for years, the home is actually at risk of collapse.
- Mortgage Lenders will Hold Foundation Problems Against You
It is harder to find a mortgage lender if you’re buying a home in need of pier and beam or concrete slab foundation repair. If you are a homeowner with an outstanding mortgage and the home collapses due to foundational issues, you may be required to continue making payments on a house that is no longer usable. Be sure to check your homeowner’s insurance policy to see if foundation repairs are covered, so you can take care of them early.
- Water Damage Comes with Foundation Damage
Whether you have a pier and beam foundation or a concrete slab, water will affect the integrity of your home’s foundation. Groundwater, rain, or seeping water from pipes can cause major cracks.
Installing helical piers to strengthen the slab and leveling the house will restore the foundation. You can also landscape in a way that prevents runoff toward your foundation, and install french drain systems to direct water away from your home.
- Your Energy Efficiency Plummets with Foundation Cracking
Cracks in your foundation allow AC to seep out in the summer, and heat to escape in the cold months, making your HVAC system work twice as hard. Performing concrete leveling and sealing those cracks will help lower your electricity bills.
Call Your East Texas Foundation Repair Company
For exceptional customer service at a reasonable rate, contact Lonestar Foundation Repair today and schedule your free consultation.