- Basement Moisture and Leaks
- Wall Crumbling
- Above-Ground Symptoms
- Solutions to Basement Wall Instability
If you live in an old home, your foundation and basement walls might have become unstable. An unstable foundation sounds concerning, right? So, how do you know if yours is doing alright or not? We’ve compiled a list of symptoms as well as our favorite solution.
Basement Moisture and Leaks
Your foundation and basement walls are two parts of the same thing. If the structure of your house sits on your basement walls, those walls are part of your foundation. Therefore, keeping those walls in shape is vital.
If your basement walls are leaking water or there’s noticeable moisture in parts of your basement, that’s a bad sign. Stone basement walls can only leak if there are cracks leading from the outside to the inside. These cracks may be small enough that you can’t see them, but it doesn’t mean water can’t go through them. If there’s noticeable moisture, there are probably tons of these small cracks.
Letting your basement walls continue to erode as moisture travels through them will lead to more damage.
Wall Crumbling
The next sign is basement wall crumbling. If you notice little pebbles at the base of your basement walls, they’re damaged enough that they’re beginning to crumble. This is bad.
Erosion worsening as water travels through the cracks in your walls is to be expected. However, the walls beginning to crumble means the problem is worse than it looks on the outside. If your walls continue on this path, it could spell bad things for the safety of your entire house.
Above-Ground Symptoms
There are above-ground signs that your foundation isn’t doing so hot as well. For example, if you see cracks in your drywall, it means the foundation has shifted. Even if it has been a slow shift, caused over time, the continued shift could lead to worse damage.
For example, if left long enough, important parts of the internal structure could split or crack. If the frame of the house splits, the floor could fall through or a wall could buckle. Therefore, if there are cracks appearing in your walls, it’s important to start the process of preventing further damage.
Other symptoms are:
- Doors sticking
- Door frames separating from the wall
- Bowed floors or ceilings
- Drafty windows
Solutions to Basement Wall Instability
If you’re noticing moisture in your basement, but the other signs of foundational instability haven’t appeared, take preventative measures. Exterior basement waterproofing doesn’t just prevent unwanted moisture, it also prevents continued erosion of your basement walls. That makes exterior basement waterproofing vital in the prevention of an unstable foundation.
Call us at POM Waterproofing if you want to know more about how to get exterior basement waterproofing.
