Basement Wall Cracks Cause My Home to Collapse?, Nashville, TN.
This is the question many homeowners ask when they encounter basement wall cracks for the first time. They wonder about what they can do to save their foundations and whether the rest of their home is safe. This is understandable. Your home, after all, is one of the biggest investments you
will make in your life. If damage to the foundation could potentially mean the loss of your investment, you will want to know what can be done to stop it.
Will your home collapse?
The good news is that basement wall cracks aren’t likely to make your home collapse. Modern construction standards ensure that the design of buildings today provides for withstanding a great deal of stress. For example, many homes are built to withstand strong winds, large hail, torrential rains, heavy snowfall, expansion of soil and other changes in weather. The immediate and complete collapse of your foundation isn’t likely if modern building standards were adhered to in the design and construction of the building.
However, if you live in an older home, you should be a lot more cautious about basement wall cracks. The building standards were different in the past. Foundations of the past weren’t built to withstand as much stress as modern foundations. Older homes often have weaker foundations especially if no reinforcement was done.
Don’t Ignore Those Cracks
The fact that your home won’t collapse as a result of basement wall cracks doesn’t mean that you should ignore these cracks. Ignoring the cracks won’t make them go away. In fact, these cracks are only going to get worse. While the cracks won’t result in the collapse of your home right away, they will cause various other issues in your home. They can result in other structural issues that could be
expensive to repair. Some issues you can expect when you ignore basement wall cracks include:
- Breaking of plumbing resulting in leaks that will damage your concrete slab foundation and other property.
- Mold and mildew infestation resulting in poor indoor air quality and compromising of the health of the members of your household
- Decaying supporting beams as a result of exposure to moisture that has seeped in through the cracks in the foundation wall.
- Sagging floors
- Sticking windows and doors
- Cracks in various other parts of the home.
If you have encountered basement wall cracks, you should have them fixed as soon as possible to avoid additional structural issues that will be expensive to repair.
