I think that the foundation of my house is sinking and I’m looking for some outsider opinions. The door to the back patio is difficult to close—you have to push it into the doorframe, almost. Our basement floor is obviously not even. In my bedroom, where the wall meets the ceiling, there are cracks and gaps. Also in my room, the windows make these very loud cracking sounds as if the house is settling. The bedroom door does the same thing. Our house is thirty years old and we did some renovations in the basement a few years ago. Should I call someone to check all this out, and if so who?
2007-03-06 11:48:05 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
YES, call an independant engineer... soon! They will advise you on what's happening and how to fix it. If you call a contractor, thay may ill advise you to gain a big job. The engineer gets paid by you.
2007-03-06 11:57:35 · answer #1 · answered by gipsygman 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well it may not be as bad as you think, most of these things are common, now I'm not saying that the house isn't settling however I can give some reasons for these issues the outside door could be getting water logged. Doors that are exposed to moisture will swell and cause the door not to work. The cracks and gaps in the Sheetrock come from the hose breathing sheet rock was hung from bottom to top 30 years ago and now it's side to side this prevents cracks around doors and windows. The cracking sound is the change in temperature when the sun goes down the wood begins to release the collected energy of the sun and warmth. And crooked floors in the basement is nothing new, they don't put to much time into it because it's a basement. If it is the foundation you will see cracks more like gaps not hairline, but wide ones outside in your brick and they will begin to get worse, if you have wood siding you will need to look at outside foundation and if it's bad enough to cause those type of issues you are going to see gaps not tiny cracks.
2007-03-08 06:00:12 · answer #2 · answered by frosty62 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A 30 year old house does not "all-of-a-sudden" start settling unless it's in California and the earthquake was last week. The reno done to your basement was probably done incorrectly and the house is caving in. Get a structural person in to look at the support system in the basement and find out which one of those walls that just had to come out; was holding up your house.
2007-03-06 12:39:12 · answer #3 · answered by 6kidsANDalwaysFIXINGsomething 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, that does happen. Actually they have house jacks that look like hugh bumper jacks to jack up your house to reinforce your foundation. A general contractor could point you in the direction of someone specializing in this.
2007-03-06 12:02:32 · answer #4 · answered by Hiram M 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋