I'm in the Fort Worth area, and apparently you need to water your foundation when there are extreme dry conditions. I wasn't aware of this... I noticed that some doors were wonky last night and checked my foundation this morning- sure enough, there is a tiny crack outside in the area of the rooms with the door issue. Anyone have experience with something like this? Is it too late to water my foundation to stop the issue from getting worse? Or should I call a foundation repair company ASAP? Thanks.
Keeping water levels consistent around your foundation is a necessity around the Houston area (due to large quantities of clay in the soil). I'm not 100% sure what the soil make-up around the DFW area is, but it can't be TOO different from here since the Coastal Plains extend up north into the region. In drought conditions, the clay shrinks, and causes the soil to dry up, which then causes differential movement in the foundation. Once you add an influx of water to the soil, it will swell up again.
That's reassuring. Believe me, I'm on it now. Do you think it would be a good idea to get a foundation guy out?
Also, this is assuming that you have a slab-on-grade foundation. If you noticed a small crack in perimeter grade beam, that means that there has been some differential movement in the foundation, but how much is unknown. If you start noticing cracking in your tiles around the area, doors sticking/going loose, diagonal cracking the sheetrock above corridors, or separation from the cornice outside of the house, then you probably need to call a foundation company to at least give you an estimate. However, I would be weary of them because MOST houses (we're talking 95% here) have gone through SOME differential movement, and they capitalize off that fact. What people need to understand is that your house WILL move. The forces of nature are impossible to control. However, the job of the foundation is to ensure that these forces do not cause your house to undergo so much movement that it is impossible to live in. Sticky doors, and some minor shrinkage cracks in the foundation are completely natural, and any crack that is less than 1/8" wide is typical more than acceptable in the industry. It's when you get wider than that there is usually a bigger issue at hand. If you need any more advice, or have any general questions, feel free to ask in this thread, or email me through the board (I'm a structural engineer who designs foundations).
Wish I could rep you more! The crack isn't even 1 mm wide. No drywall or tile issues. There looks like there might be a tiny bit of window separation, but then again, the house is 20 years old, and it could just be old caulk. It's all very minimal outside of the doors. It may have been going on for weeks- I don't go into that area of the house and close the doors much. I'm pretty cautious with salesmen in general- they have something to gain from selling you a product. Not saying that it isn't a good product, but I'm ignorant of this and would be making a poor decision based on fear/ignorance.
I'm in a fort bend county neighborhood where most of the houses were built 1997-1999. I've seen foundation repair trucks at a couple of houses on my street this summer. Last week I noticed a crack running all the way up my next door neighbors two story house. A window running along the crack has even popped out a little. This neighbor has always been terrible at maintaining his yard and watering so I'm not surprised.
What that tells me is that one side of the house has dropped significantly compared to the other. In an area like Fort Bend County, where the soil is primarily Black Gumbo, I would say watering is more essential than in other places. Unfortunately, in conditions like this, foundation companies take the opportunity to price gouge like no other. Just the other day, I had a call from one of our clients telling me they got a quote from a repair company (I won't say the name, but they advertise all over the city) for $86,000!!
It's just really dry right now and considering you did not water it is normal for it to shift a little. I would not worry about it but definitely start watering the foundation to prevent further issues. eventually it should level out when ground is saturated again. Might want to look into getting soaker hoses and place them foot or two away from foundation.
Are we talking the soaker hoses that "sweat" out? Or the ones that spray out through pinholes?? Or does it matter? I'm dealing with this too..noticing more cracks in sheetrock around doors/windows. The west side of my house gets the sun pretty hard in the afternoon and it's very dry over there right now.
Accidentally bumped a thread in unsorted to talk about this -- but I'm having issues as well . Specifically, my front door is completely out of whack now, sticks at the top and nothing aligns. It looks like I have to at least get a contractor to fix the door. Does anyone have suggestions for a good contractor I can call that isn't too expensive and reliable? I didn't know about the watering your foundation thing -- I've started to do that now. Right now the front door is the only problem I've seen and I can't see anything obvious looking at the foundation, so I'm hopeful that this won't turn into an expensive foundation repair thing.
i have family in dallas that has experienced something similar. They are on a pier and beam and their street is built on an old creek bed but they have exeperienced some significant shifting over the last couple of months in their garage. Their house is built up and is above the roadway (it was a tear down and rebuild about 10 years ago). But it makes sense to have shifting where it is because the edge of the garage is where the lot starts to decline toward the road.
Joshfast- no kidding. CF.net has the most diversified group of people. The hangout is great for advice....and not even a smartass comment yet! I owe Fyreball one (how about a tipjar contribution to get you bumped to contributor status?) I got two long soaker hoses, ran them around my house about two feet out except on the concrete porch in back and the driveway, and plan on running them nonstop for a couple of weeks, then tapering it back slowly as it gets cooler. I'd rather have $100 extra on the water bill for a couple of months than a huge foundation repair. Donkey- I wish I had a pier and beam foundation- I have experience leveling those. My last house was a pier and beam in Galveston. If you've never seen a soaker hose, they kind of 'weep' from pores in the hose, like in this picture:
I've been using this type of drip irrigation tubing since last year. It encircles my entire house: http://store.rainbird.com/product/detail/A50901-M.aspx I've got it hooked up to my outside hose bib with one of these: http://store.rainbird.com/product/detail/A50800B.aspx And I use a timer to automatically turn the water on and off. I've been running the water for about 2 hours, 4 times a week. Even so, I've noticed some new cracked tiles, so I may have to increase the watering time.
I just got home, so I haven't had time to check this thread, but to the people who have pier and beam foundations, your jobs are the easiest. All you have to do is get a level put to your floor so you can see exactly where the movement is occurring, and then shim the appropriate piers accordingly. The irrigation hoses definitely help, but unfortunately, with the conditions we have right now, I think no matter how much you water, you will still see issues. I would still continue to water though, because every little bit helps. If you have doors that are sticking, or out of level, you might just need to get the door frame re-leveled by shaving the frame. It doesn't solve the main problem, but it at least allows your door to function properly. At the very least, you've just bought yourself a few more months before you have to address the situation again. And Xerobull, don't worry about owing me anything....I'm happy to help anyone who's willing to listen to my inane ramblings
I ran some tubing alongside it part way. You can buy T-fittings and run the tubing pretty much any direction with as many branches as you want. When my watering days come, I also set up my sprinklers to make sure they water the grass on either side. Not sure if it helps any, but with this heat I figure it can't hurt.
Thanks! Fyreball, can you (or anyone) recommend a good contractor to call for this kind of job? I haven't had being a homeowner for that long, and besides, I feel like I could probably save a ton of money and headache by relying on this community for ideas.
All you need is a sander and a piece of paper to slide in the jame to see if the sanding has created a gap. You don't need a contractor for that.
Fyreball, my hubby is a civil/structural engineer! We just had an sprinkler system installed and we run it for 25 minutes nightly. Is it enough to water the ground? I am guessing, no. 15 minutes for zone 1, and 5 minutes for rest of zones.
