Foundation Repair Costs: Is It Worth It To Fix My Southern California Foundation?

By Author: Sonia Lara
Total Articles: 18
Comment this article

"You can barely notice it" is not a good way to determine if the crack in your foundation is going to turn into a problem. Foundation problems are not uncommon to California homes so it is best to be safe rather than sorry.

What Caused My Foundation Problem?
Foundation problems plague new and old California homes alike, although many people associate older homes with foundation problems and high foundation repair costs. Consumer Reports found that 15% of new homes had serious foundation problems.

Regardless if your home was recently built or has been standing for years, your foundation problem probably stemmed from one of these 4 things:
* Poor construction
* Deteriorating/Inadequate Supports
* Expansive Soils Damaging the Home
* Homes Built on Poorly Compacted Fill Soils

These issues cannot be fixed with a store bought “quick-fix solution.” Many homeowners try to seal over the cracks with cement or some other solution. When you seal over the crack in your foundation wall with cement you are only temporarily solving the cosmetic damage. As your foundation continues to ...
... shift the crack will reappear because the cement did nothing to stabilize the foundation that is causing the crack. In some extreme cases, homeowners waited so long to fix their foundation problem that entire basement walls have collapsed. This obviously resulted in extremely expensive and time consuming repairs.

Keeping an Eye on Wall Cracks
Homeowners often do not notice foundation wall cracks until long after the cracks are formed. They believe the cracks just appeared over night, however most cracks occur over time. Foundation cracks tend to form in the weakest points of walls in places like corners, edges of basement window frames, holes for service, concrete cold joints, long spans of wall, pipe penetrations, and along the tie rods in the foundation. Cracks should be checked regularly to make sure they don’t move, spread or widen.
If you are noticing:
* Horizontal or Stair-Step Cracks Along Walls
* Inward Bowing or Bulging Along Walls
* Sinking Floors Over a Crawl Space
* Tilting Chimneys

Act now before the problem progresses! Foundation problems only get worse, and more costly as time goes on.

Protect Your Biggest Investment
If you are ever thinking of reselling your home, as many homeowners do at some point, it is important to repair your foundation as soon as possible before the problem gets worse. Think about it, if you yourself were buying a home you would be very hesitant to buy a home with a structural defect. Even if you did buy the home with the structural defect you would most certainly not pay the asking price.

The Real Estate Seller Disclosure Act requires these types of problems must be disclosed to potential home buyers. Realtors tell us that they have to discount a home with foundation structural defects 10 to 20% in order to go forward with the sale of the home. In today’s market most of us cannot afford to sacrifice 10 to 20% of what our home is worth. Not fixing your foundation, it's going to cost you much more money down the road, than fixing your foundation now.

EagleLift, Inc. provides foundation repair in San Diego, and other surrounding cities in Southern California, including Long Beach, Bakersfield, Anaheim, Riverside and nearby. They provide homeowners and commercial clients with proven, warranted solutions for their foundations, crawl spaces, and new construction projects. We proudly lead our industry in concrete lifting, soil stabilization, Uretek products, and many other structural repair and stabilization needs.