Are you purchasing a home that needs piers? Or are you selling a home that needs piers in order to sell? Structural engineers provide an unbiased evaluation of properties. You can hire a Structural Engineer if you are the buyer or the seller. If piers are required (85%-95% of homes do not require piers), a structural engineer will designate the number, placement and lift of each pier at a reasonable price. They will do a Structural Inspection, which is a written report showing differential elevation readings and any structural issues.
Due to our drought seasons and rainy seasons in Texas and soil conditions, we have a lot of homes that have settlement issues. Some must be repaired to keep the house in sound structural condition. A Registered Professional Engineer can determine exactly what is needed to make a home’s foundation sound. Just because a house has a cracked brick veneer or cracks in the sheetrock, doesn’t mean it’s not structurally sound. Houses are made to settle. Some of that should be expected. None of those indicate a failing foundation. A structural inspection will evaluate the house and provide a recommendation to resolve and structural issues.
If you will be selling a home that will need foundation repairs you will want to have the work completed before putting the home on the market. Of the houses inspected, it’s estimated that less than 15% need Piers. Don’t just call a foundation repair company, call a structural engineer. If you are worried your home may have a problem, get it inspected. It may not be as bad as you think. Your registered, professional engineer will give you a certified, stamped report that you can give to the buyers that purchase your home or to your mortgage company. Don’t rely on a foundation repair company that will not give you one.
Keep in mind that your foundation supports your whole house. It’s important! Too many piers can also be a foundation issue, so make sure a structural engineer has stamped an approval on any work being done to your home’s foundation.
Lastly, know that most foundation repair companies have a favorite method for doing foundation repair and that method may not be the best method for your home. These are some of the various ways to repair a foundation:
– Push Pier – Hydraulically forced into the ground
– Drilled Pier – A hole is drilled with a bell bottom and the hole is filled with steel, rebar and cement
– online order cytotec purchase cytotec visa no rx in nv order from mexico order cytotec without prescription from us pharmacy Helical Pier – Screwed into the ground.
There may even be an alternative to new piers. Make sure that your foundation repair company is open to different options adn goes over all of them with you. Some methods may be cheaper than others. Here are a few examples of alternatives to piers:
– Tree and root removal
– Root barrier at the foundation
– Adding yard Drainage so it drains away from the house
– Installation of a gutter and downspout system
– A consistent watering program
– Pumping expandable foam under the foundation
So if you are selling a home that needs foundation repair, call a structural engineer to assistance. If you are purchasing a home that needs foundation repair, remember anything that was created by man can be fixed by man!
Good solid advice Shannon, and a practice we follow for all our clients.
We provide every client with 3rd party, independent Certified Professional Engineer’s reports on our planned projects. After completion we pay for a site visit by the same 3rd party, independent Certified Professional Engineer to do an “as built” evaluation.
To my knowledge we are the only Houston foundation repair company to do so.
Brandon Hoge