Trenton’s Trusted Foundation, Crawl Space & Basement Service

Crawl spaces are often neglected by homeowners. Basements at least often contain washing and drying machines and have sufficient space to be used for storage. Crawl spaces, however, are not places homeowners spend much of their time in. Even if you understand the importance of a sump pump in your crawl space, you might be wondering why you should encapsulate it in the first place. A basement you might understand, but what’s the point of applying white sheets to a crawl space you’ll never spend time in? Encapsulating your crawl space is more than just closing off your crawl space and making it look nice with white sheets. Those white sheets are actually vapor barriers that serve a very important purpose in the fight against humidity in your crawl space. Proper reflective insulation can also be installed along with the vapor barrier, even if your crawl space has already been insulated with another material. High quality reflective insulation like our patented thermal insulation panels makes sure that the warm crawl space air stays in the crawl space. This improves the energy efficiency in your home, reduces energy bills, and keeps the air in your home fresh at all times.

Soil erosion is defined as a natural occurring process in which soil wears away due to an external factor. Soil erosion is extremely detrimental to your property because it displaces the soil that is supposed to be holding up your home. Without the soil, your foundation is at the mercy of any extra weight, pressure, or movement that comes from within or outside your home. Soil erosion can cause settling, ruin the way water flows through your property, and allow for the over-saturation of soil. All in all, it’s a pretty disruptive occurrence for a homeowner.

The word “hydro” means water and “static” is a synonym for still or steady. The term hydrostatic pressure perfectly illustrates the effects still groundwater has on your foundation and why it is so important to keep an eye out for it. Hydrostatic pressure is something you might not know you need to watch out for as a homeowner, but once you know about it, you’ll be more vigilant. It’s the kind of problem that many don’t think about until it affects their foundation significantly. Knowing what it is and what it does to your basement walls will allow you to understand why your walls are bowing and what the correct action to take is.

If you’re looking for the best way to lift your settled concrete slab, look no further than polyurethane injections. This concrete lifting system utilizes polyurethane foam to lift concrete back into place. Small holes are drilled into the concrete in order to inject the polyurethane foam until there’s enough under the slab to lift and support it. This is a modern, innovative approach to concrete lifting that solves every problem associated with traditional methods. What makes this method so great is all about what the material is made with. Mudjacking, the traditional method of concrete lifting, consists of pumping a cement slurry under the concrete to lift the slab. However, because of how heavy and rough the cement is, it puts pressure on the soil below, increasing the chances of displacement and settling. The cement is also too rough to properly fill the gap under the slab, so some parts remain unsupported after the job is done. Mudjacking is also rather tedious because it can take hours for the work to be completed and you still need to wait hours more for the cement to cure before putting any pressure on the slab. Polyurethane foam eliminates all those inconveniences.

Having a beautiful, healthy tree growing on your property makes your yard look interesting and visually pleasing. However, there’s a good chance that your tree is ruining your foundation and causing those pesky leaks in your basement or crawl space. Many homeowners misunderstand how a tree is able to do so much damage and believe that the tree roots themselves are the issue when it’s actually the soil. Like most problems pertaining to foundation damage, expansive soils are the culprits, not the tree roots. The characteristics of clay soils make it so trees encourage shrink-swell capacities and soil displacement.

Let’s say your basement is extremely humid, but it doesn’t experience any kind of flooding. Does humidity harm your basement as much as water does? After all, if the only thing wrong with your basement is stuffy, damp air, how much harm can it do? The truth is, humidity is not only harmful for your basement, it’s also indicative of problems that will eventually cause harm. Part of the reason it’s such a significant problem in the first place is because most of its consequences aren’t felt until the damage is severe. Where there is excessive humidity, there is mold. Mold growth in your basement harms both you and your home’s structure. Because of the stack effect, the air in your basement rises in your home, including any existing fungal spores. Long-term exposure to mold triggers allergies and causes permanent harm to the respiratory system. Humidity also encourages pests to make a nest out of your basement, further increasing the risk of illness.

As a homeowner, knowing how to spot foundation settling is the most important thing you can learn. When a foundation is settling, a chunk of the foundation is literally tearing itself away from the house as it settles against unstable soil. As you can imagine, this has a profound effect on the rest of the home’s structure. Settling can be solved with a variety of foundation repair solutions, but you need to be able to catch the problem before it gets too severe. Many settling problem signs disguise themselves as isolated issues early on, so if you have even one of these problems, contact your local foundation repair company for an inspection. Jammed doors and windows are a typical sign of settling. Because a part of the house is falling to one side, doors and window frames become warped and are unable to function properly. Another sign of settling is cracks along the walls, though cracks on tile flooring can also occur if you have a slab foundation. An increased amount of basement flooding is another good indicator since a broken foundation means groundwater has better access into your home.