Columbus, GA

The best way for a homeowner to avoid costly repairs is to fix the issues that arise before they become too damaging. In order to do so, you need to notice signs of trouble as soon as they appear. Cracks in the walls and gaps between the floor and the walls are small matters but they can indicate a larger structural issue. 

Make sure you’re familiar with your Columbus home and especially its basement or crawl space area. That way, you’ll notice a crack or an uneven surface as soon as it’s there. A yearly round of inspection should become a part of your home maintenance routine. As soon as a change is noticeable, you should contact a foundation repair expert and look for their advice as to the cause of the issue. In many cases, cracks are just a surface-level problem and won’t merit a repair. 

These regular checks should be done more often if the foundation was recently repaired or if there’s a structural problem that most of your neighbors are facing. That’s usually a sign that you will as well since you share the same soil and most often, the majority of homes in a particular neighborhood will have been constructed by the same builder. 

Many Columbus homeowners decide to fix their home on their own since that’s a good way to save money and it can be a fun project to do in their spare time. This is OK with some repairs but it’s something to avoid when it comes to structural problems. That’s because they are very complex and difficult.

There’s also a lot of equipment that you need to have and the materials needed for repairs aren’t always available to an ordinary homeowner buying them over the counter. Trying to find these materials and machines can take a long time and it can be expensive as well. It’s best therefore to leave it to the experts when it comes to these important repairs.

Start by having an expert inspect the property and figure out what’s caused the issue in the first place. They will guide you through the rest of the process and provide you with solutions that are tailored to your home’s specific repair needs that address the seriousness of the problem and fit your budget as well. 

Having a moldy basement isn’t just a matter of aesthetics, it’s also a health issue. If your Columbus home has mold in the basement, its spores are getting into the air and you’re breathing day in and day out. This can cause numerous health issues and especially with those who already have a respiratory condition.

It’s best to cut the problem at the source and remove the humidity that’s providing a breeding ground for the mold in the first place. That can be accomplished by removing the water from your basement via a sump pump or a dehumidifier and by making sure that it’s waterproofed by sealing it with a vapor barrier.

Once you’ve removed the water and moisture out of the air, the next thing to do is to remove the mold itself and sometimes the drywall on which it is growing. The mold will not be able to grow again since you’ve removed everything it needs to thrive.

Concrete slabs crack due to problems with the soil beneath them. All soil inevitably erodes over time or gets washed out by water and rainfall. As it does, voids are formed below the concrete slab part of your Columbus home’s foundation and there’s nothing more to support its weight. When that happens, the concrete starts to sink and break at pressure points.

In order to lift the concrete, you should also fix the holes beneath it that have caused it to sink in the first place. That can’t be done with outdated methods for concrete lifting such as mudjacking. New methods that use polyurethane foam fix both the concrete and the soil issue by filling in the holes and providing a long-term solution to this issue.

Sometimes, the cause for the cracking is in the concrete itself and that’s what happens when the concrete isn’t sturdy enough. There’s no solution for this problem other than removing the concrete slab altogether and installing a new one out of reliable concrete that will provide better material.

There are many advantages of this repair method compared to what else is available. Most of these older methods are slowly being phased out. Polyurethane foam is faster and easier to install and there’s less damage to the property involved. The small holes that need to be drilled in to inject the foam are easy to cover up and repair, meaning that you can make your Columbus home’s concrete appear smooth quickly enough.

PolyRenewal™ foam injections are also a better option from an environmental standpoint since they won’t interact with the soil or cause damage to your garden. The foam is perfectly safe to use and it won’t in any way damage the plant life near it.

It’s also a long-term solution since it fixes the cause of the problem and not only its manifestations. The foam will repair the soil beneath the concrete slab that’s sinking and that means that you won’t have to redo repairs every few years. It’s one of those repairs that should be done once if it’s done right.

A dehumidifier is a device that’s used to remove the moisture from the air of the basement. Its immediate use is that it makes the air less stuffy that in turn makes your whole Columbus home easier to live in and more comfortable. It also makes the basement a less comfortable environment for mold and mildew that likes to grow in the humid and dark places of your home.

This is a health issue as much as it is a comfort one since the mold and mildew that grows inside your home can cause a lot of damage to your health if it’s inhaled over a long time. Once you’ve removed the excess water out of the air, you’ve also dealt with the mildew problem.  

In the end, you should also consider how difficult it is to heat and cool a wet basement and how easier that becomes once humidity is removed. This in turn affects your AC and heating bill as well since less energy is wasted on heating and cooling the home once it’s dry.