Basement Waterproofing and Foundation Repair in Zanesville, OH

Once some part of your home becomes damaged, it is quite natural for Cincinnati homeowners to at least attempt to fix that damage on your own, regardless if you have even dealt with such an issue before. Of course, the foundation is not a structure you should treat lightly. Your home’s infrastructure depends on it to stay upright and level. Without a stable foundation, you might find all kinds of damage around your home. Your floor may sag or bounce. The doors and windows in your home might be harder to open or close. You might even notice your walls bowing if you ignore this damage for too long.

Attempting to repair the foundation on your own can often result in you inflicting even more unintentional damage that will require other costly repairs later on anyway. Call the foundation experts at Ohio Basement Authority as soon as you spot any infrastructural damage around your home. Feel free to take advantage of the free home inspections we offer all homeowners. Our experts will easily be able to pinpoint the cause behind your foundation damage as well as provide free quotes on all our powerful repair solutions.

It is possible your foundation may have shifted or settled after a storm has washed out the supporting soil. Our pier systems can stabilize and even lift any shifted or settled foundation with ease. The piers can also close any cracks that have sprouted along the concrete foundation’s surface over time as well. These piers will later help brace your foundation against moisture damage. We can also offer your home our complex wall anchor system, carbon fiber wall straps, and our SettleStop IntelliBrace™ I-beam system. Calling Ohio Basement Authority’s experts is always the best call!

There are many things that you can do to mitigate or remove a musty or unpleasant smell in your home, of course, but the methods which are most effective depend on the situation in which you have found yourself.  

Repair All Damage 

The first step in removing any smell from your home is repairing the damage that has allowed moisture, humidity, and pests to enter your home. This means lifting and leveling any sunken concrete slabs, reinforcing bowing walls, repairing damaged pipes, and resealing basement windows or crawl space vents and doors. This will give you a clean slate from which to work.  

By preventing water and moisture from getting into your home and repairing the damage that has been done to your property as a whole, you will cut off the source of the smell. This work is key to ensuring that the results you get from cleaning up the pests, mold, or growths which are causing the smell are permanent. After all, you don’t want the smell to come back!  

Remove Pests and Moisture  

Once the structure of your property has been repaired and the integrity of your plumbing system has been assured, it will be possible to take appropriate measures to remove the mold, fungal growths, or pests which have created the bad smell in your home. Depending on the nature of the problem this can be a fairly lengthy process.  

Pest removal, chemical removal of mold, and dehumidification may all be needed, alongside a deep clean, depending on the nature of the damage in your home. This is why it is important to talk to a professional about the smell of your property and what you can do about it. Experts have all the information and tools they need to return your home to full health.  

Keeping track of your crawl space’s condition can help you get ahead of worsening damage—and higher electrical bills. If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to everyday crawl space care you may be at a loss. The good news is that caring for your crawl space is a relatively straightforward process.   

Look for Signs of Damage   

The best way to figure out whether something is wrong with your crawl space is to keep a close eye on it. Your crawl space is sensitive, meaning it will give its damage away if it gets the chance. With that in mind, you’ll want to keep an eye out for:   

• Unpleasant smells throughout your basement   
• Cracks near the joints, walls, and frames throughout your home   
• Standing or pooling water near your carpeting   
• Bowing walls   
• Mold   

Unfortunately, while these symptoms will let you know that something’s amiss in your home, they won’t always help you identify the problem in question. That’s where the professionals serving Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, come into play. Professionals can inspect the symptoms you’re dealing with and let you know where that damage may be coming from. This way, you can determine whether you’re dealing with just a crack, or something more severe like foundation damage.   

Get a Professional Inspection   

These professionals typically break a crawl space inspection down into three stages. They’ll kick your inspection off by looking over your entrance and making sure that it’s up to code. From there, they’ll identify any obvious problems. If nothing looks immediately wrong, they’ll look for your crawl space’s weaker elements and recommend any repairs or solutions that might prevent worse damage later down the line.   

It’s never a bad idea to set up annual crawl space inspections with the professionals in your area. If you’d rather leave the details of your crawl space to a professional, let the experts in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, do the hard work for you.   

Any and all concrete cracks can pose a threat to the surrounding concrete as well as to your foundation given enough time. However, not every homeowner will have the time to treat every crack or sign of damage they might come across around their home. This is where knowing which cracks can be ignored for a short period of time and which cracks must be treated as soon as possible. Any cracks that measure less than 1/8 inch wide are known as hairline cracks and will not pose any immediate threat to the surrounding concrete, nor will they spread down to the foundation right away. The same can be said for any cracks that measure anywhere between 1/8 and 1/4 inches wide.

Of course, these cracks can also expand at any time, so it is important that you do not leave these cracks alone for too long. Any cracks that measure wider than 1/4 inch must be repaired as soon as possible. Not only can they spread damage out to the surrounding slabs, but they can easily creep down to the foundation, too. You need a concrete lifting solution that will prevent this damage from spreading as well as protect your concrete from being damaged again in the future.

The SettleStop PolyRenewal™ injection foam repair solution will do just that and more. It can stabilize both the supporting soil below and the concrete slabs themselves, filling in any cracks and other damage along the way. The foam is made up of eco-friendly materials as well. If it mixes with water, then it will not ruin your lawn or landscaping. It is a nondisruptive repair solution that will not require any heavy equipment or loud construction to install and will cure in minutes!