American Dream
Property Inspections
Foundation Inspections
Are you thinking about buying, selling, leasing, or investing in a home, condo, or commercial building?
Getting a slab or raised foundation inspection can save you thousands of dollars as it is universally accepted that a solid foundation is required to support the structure, the person, and/or the establishment.
We are certified to perform slab and raised foundation inspections in: San Diego County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, Orange County, and Los Angeles County.
Slab Foundations
Inside the structure a floor that’s not level is one tip of potential foundation issue or problem.
-Doors that jam or fail to latch, cracks in interior and exterior walls. (particularly over doorways or windows or wherever walls meet ceilings)
-Cracks that are open in vinyl or ceramic tile over a concrete floor or windows that fail to budge or to shut fully might conjointly hint at foundation issues.
-If a structural downside is defined during the inspection; for instance, the foundation appears to be sinking inconsistently and has the potential to skew or pull apart the framing unless action is taken. Our slab inspectors are properly trained to document the issues discovered that could be serious. We check to see if your foundation is straight by observation down the length of your foundation wall from every corner.
Raised Foundations
Block and formed raised concrete foundations require proper training. We will assess all the areas that are visible looking for cracks, stains, notching and boring, anchoring, and build a determination based on the supported size, direction of movement, and placement of the structure, and recommend a structural engineer if necessary to see whether or not these signs point to traditional sinking or to structural deficiency.
When accessing the basement or crawl area, we explore the entire accessible areas for foundation issues that will encompass the system of posts and concrete supports, or piers. Posts ought to stand straight and be firmly planted completely beneath the beams they support. Bottoms of posts ought to rest firmly on concrete. Post superior ought to be secured to the supported member.
Standing water, status or signs of water intrusion in the crawl space area is a red flag for our inspectors and will be dialogue'd in the inspection report for repair.
A bulge or divot in either a block foundation or a poured concrete wall might signal that the ground has shifted. We also perform the evaluation on the inside of the interior walls.Check for leaning walls with tier. Any signs of shifting or bowing means the soil could also be increasing and placing shot pressure on foundation walls, and remedial steps may be necessary.
Concrete and block foundations sometimes have a minimum of a number of cracks. The talent is recognizing the deficiencies in the area to determine if it is insignificant or serious.As concrete cures, it shrinks slightly. wherever the concrete can’t shrink equally, it tends to crack.
Slab and Raised Foundation Cracks
*Cracks wherever there's shaped sections, like wherever a foundation stair-steps all the way down to follow a slope, area unit in all probability shrinkage cracks, particularly if they meander and taper all the way down to a hairline. These aren’t a structural issue, although you may ought to seal them to keep the basement or crawl area dry and to improve efficiency.
*Hairline cracks within the mortar between concrete blocks also are seldom a price worrying concerning. If our inspector discovers little cracks (less than 1/16-inch wide), we usually recommend painting over them with a concrete waterproofing paint. We usually recommend checking sporadically to see whether or not the paint has cracked, which implies the gap is enlarging.
*Stair-step cracks in masonry joints areas are a much bigger concern, particularly if the wall is bulging or the crack is wider than ¼ in. (an obstructed gutter or alternative wet downside outside could also be exerting pressure there on a part of the wall).
*Horizontal cracks are the most serious, and indicate that water-saturated soil outside has frozen and swollen, pushing in and expanding the concrete. Horizontal cracks conjointly occur as a result of issues with underlying soil. If you have soil that expands once it gets damp and shrinks once dry, you can face constant varying of solutions as if you had a block foundation and may a structural engineer.
*We have inspected nearly ten thousand foundations in the past 15 years and if we had to pinpoint the deficiency during a slab or raised foundation inspection that is the most important; we might say that cracks along with inadequate geographical slope are the main factors.
*The second most significant inspection, based on cost for repair once the slab or raised foundation inspection is complete, would be the roof inspection.