Structural failure is a problem that you may feel is constantly lurking over your head. Especially if you’ve already had some form of structural failure occur in your home before, you may worry about the threat of future structural failure. Although this is certainly a worry that you may be right to have, it’s important to know that you can catch that failure before it occurs. Use this home health checklist to know the signs and symptoms of structural failure in different common areas.
The general foundation of your home is one area that may have some problems. In fact, if you’re worried about structural failure, you may want to check on your foundation first. These are a few of the symptoms of foundation problems:
Nail Pops
Wall Gaps
Floor Gaps
Uneven Floors
Drywall Cracks
Sticking Doors and Windows
Bowed Walls, Especially in the Basement
Flood Damage
Chimney Cracking
Sinking Foundation
Vertical, Horizontal, or Stair-Step Cracks
Cracked Bricks
Cracked Block Foundation
Cracks in Concrete
These are all signs and symptoms you should be looking out for, even if you didn’t know they were signs of structural problems. Unfortunately, many people just accept issues like nail pops as typical elements of having a home, not realizing that they’re indicating a much deeper problem.
Basement
Not everyone has a basement, but if you do, you should know that the basement is a potential area for structural failure. That structural failure can manifest itself in a variety of ways, including all of these problem signs:
Poor Drainage
Musty Smell
Leaking Water Heater
Leaking Windows
Leaking in Basement Cove
Sump Pump Issues
Swelling or Warped Doors
Water Stains
Efflorescence
Wet Walls
Wet Floors
Wet Carpet
Wet Drywall
Condensation on Windows or Doors
Issues in the basement are unfortunately common, and it’s also unfortunately common for them to go unnoticed because many people don’t go into their basements very frequently. If you have a basement, it’s extremely important that you maintain your basement health in a dedicated manner. Otherwise you may end up with structural concerns that span your basement and further.
Crawl Space
Even if you don’t have a basement, chances are that you have a crawl space. Crawl spaces are a great way to allow for access underneath your home, but they can also have problems. These are a few of the problem signs you may run into in your crawl space:
Standing Water
Floor Joist Problems
Wood Rot
Condensation
Wet Insulation
Foundation Cracks
Open Crawl Space Vents
High General Indoor Humidity
Sagging Floors
Mold
Unpleasant Odors
Poor Air Quality
Rodent or Bug Issues
High Electric Bills
As you can see, many of these problem signs are things that can be difficult to trace back to the crawl space. However, when you know about the problems, you’re more likely to notice them. At the very least, you should make sure you know about these issues so you can see that this problem is occurring and request an expert’s intervention.
External Concrete
The external concrete of your home is another area where issues could arise. This is partially because many homes have so much external concrete. You may have concrete in all these areas:
Patio
Garage
Driveway
Sidewalk
Pool Deck
If you do have concrete in any of these areas, it’s important to make sure you’re maintaining that concrete as well as you can. If you don’t pay close attention to your concrete, you could end up missing a serious problem that has negative impacts on the entirety of your home.
Conclusion
Home structural failure is definitely scary, but it’s not so scary that it’s insurmountable. If you want to make sure you’re getting the best for your home, you should just focus on making sure that you call in professional help when you have signs and symptoms of structural failure. If you’re willing and able to bring in professional help for these issues, you can significantly reduce your chances of ending up with a long-lasting problem.
To read more on topics like this, check out the Health category
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