Foundation Repair Evaluations For Historic Homes

Historic homes can be a treat. You are literally owning a piece of history that has been around longer than you have. Unfortunately, many historic homeowners soon learn that old homes come with a lot of potential problems.

When considering buying an older home, it is important that you have not just a home inspection, but inspections by qualified professionals. Items like plumbing, electrical, roofing with be particular points of interest – but so, too, should your foundation. The technology that we use to build homes has only gotten better over time, which means that historic homes may have a few select quirks with their foundation. Unlike items like lead plumbing, previous owners probably didn’t replace some of the more troublesome parts of an old foundation if it was not yet manifesting problems. Luckily, these issues can be discovered, monitored, and repaired as needed.

One particular issue to pay attention to is the foundation under your hallways. The hallway walls are almost always load bearing ones, but the issue is that those that built older homes were not always so diligent in supporting them. One wall could have a girder underneath while the opposite wall is nothing but air. This can lead to sinking and bowing over time. Another problem is that they installed the girder down the middle instead of under a wall, which means your hallway may develop a hump in the floor. Both issues can be solved by installing girders in what we now know are the proper places.

If you are considering buying an older home, or already bought one, you need to pay close attention to the foundation. If you have some concerns about bowing, sloping, bulging, or creaking, contact us today to see what Dodson Foundation Repair can do to help. No foundation issue is too big for us to tackle.