You *might* have some foundation issues with your home. Well, you probably do though it’s never been confirmed. The signs you are seeing around your home don’t bother you too much but your spouse is freaking out. You just want someone to *level* with you (pun intended). What happens if you never get your foundation repaired?
At Anchor Foundation Repair, we have been assessing and repairing Brazos Valley foundations for 35+ years. Homeowners ask us this question a lot and we can tell you what we tell them. Now, I can’t promise that it’s what you want to hear but we’ll see . . .
This article will review 3 possible things that can happen to your home if you choose not to do foundation repairs. When you’re more confident about what sounds right for you, we can direct your next steps to help you decide what’s best for your home.
Do I HAVE to Get My Foundation Repaired?
This is the classic, “Mom, do I *have* to??” question.
Answer: No, you don’t have to get your foundation repaired.
You said it doesn’t bother you that much and deciding not to get repairs can be a reasonable choice for some homeowners. One of the guiding factors in choosing foundation repairs is to consider your feelings about the issue.
Do you (or someone else in the house) feel angry when one of your doors always sticks and you have to shove it with your shoulder? Do you or others feel embarrassed to have people over because of the wall cracks in your living room? Or maybe you’re not all that bothered by these imperfections.
Visual imperfections are different than major functionality issues caused by foundation settlement. This is often when things go from foundation settlement to foundation problem.
What if your front door does not lock because of your foundation problem? What if your under-slab plumbing is leaking and you’re seeing more and longer cracks in your walls? When parts of your home don’t *work right* or are clearly causing more problems, people have a stronger desire to get their foundation repaired.
No one says you have to get your foundation repaired. You just have to decide how much things are really bothering you (and your significant other) and determine whether you can live with the functional problems that might be developing. Here’s an article that talks more about *feelings and functionality* in your decision to move forward (or not) with repairs.
P.S. It’s generally safe for you to live in a Central Texas home with foundation issues. Some foundation repair companies try to scare homeowners into action with the *danger* alarm, but that’s not our style.
What Happens If I Decide Not to Get Foundation Repairs?
Let’s say you’re leaning toward *not* getting your foundation repaired. We can say with total confidence that one of three things will happen if you never get your foundation repaired. You might find the following answers to be super obvious but thinking logically about the possibilities is needed here.
Pay attention when you start to identify something that sounds like your home or seems to make the most sense for you.
1. Your Home Might Be Happy Where It Is and Never Move Again.
If you never get your foundation repaired, one of the possibilities that could happen is well . . . nothing. Foundation settlement is a process where your home is trying to find a place to rest on your property. It’s trying to “settle in” and get comfortable in its spot. Maybe your home is already done doing that stuff. It could never move again.
Example Scenario of a Home That Likely Won’t Move Again
Let’s say you have an older home that you have lived in for a long time. Some signs of foundation settlement have always been there: the length of cracks hasn’t changed much, and the doors fit the same as usual. In this case, it is entirely possible that your home may never move again.
Your home might have experienced some initial settlement and stopped moving long ago.
When a foundation inspection takes place, the repair contractor can only see that day’s snapshot of your home’s current condition. Unfortunately, inspectors don’t have *Magic 8 Balls for foundation repair* that tell them your home will never move again.
There’s no way to know if the *your home will never move again* is true for any home. We can’t predict the future any better than anyone else so there is certainly a chance that nothing more will happen to your home. But this is probably the least likely scenario.
We also don’t hear about when this happens either. Folks don’t usually call us back and tell us they don’t need repairs for some reason. So I can only assume that it does happen occasionally.
2. Your Home Might Continue to Settle and Get Worse.
Not only is your home trying to “settle in” and get comfy, but it’s also trying to “settle down” and stop moving. But in our Central Texas expansive clay soils, it might never find that place because of the very nature of expansive soils.
Foundation problems come from foundation settlement and also from the behavior of expansive clay soils along with our inconsistent moisture conditions in the climate. The earth around your home is like a living system adjusting and readjusting all the time. This means that settlement and movement can continue to happen and cause further foundation issues for your home.
There are several common symptoms of slab foundation problems. How many of these do you have in your home? Things like diagonal wall cracks, doors that don’t latch or close properly, and stair-step brick or wall tile cracks are all true signs of foundation issues. Certain plumbing issues can also signal problems for your slab.
Example Scenario of a Home Where Indicators Point to Continued Movement
It has been a rainy spring and the ground has been saturated for a while. You notice that your exterior doors are a little off, and your windows are difficult to open. In a case like this, it is reasonable to believe that as the rains go away and things dry out that the home will move and settle more.
There’s no way to know how much worse your foundation settlement or problems could get though. We still can’t predict the future so there is certainly the risk of things getting worse. There is no *California Psychics for Foundation Repair* hotline to call and get your answer.
We don’t know if it will for sure get worse. We only know that expansive soil is expansive and it is going to keep on being expansive no matter what. So the chances are much higher for this possibility than the other two.
3. Your Home Might Rebound and Get Better.
Things can always get better and “rebound” to an improved condition. I mean, optimists seem to think so anyway. Since homes can move seasonally based on moisture levels, the weather could be especially wet one year and cause a few issues. Or it could be exceedingly dry one year and create a problem that rectifies itself the next year when it’s not so dry.
Doors that do not close or latch properly are a likely symptom to happen this way. Wall cracks can also open and close throughout the year indicating a rebound. Here is a scenario that could play out in your home.
Example Scenario of a Home That Rebounds
Let’s say it’s the end of a hot and really dry summer and you notice some true signs of foundation issues like the diagonal wall cracks. But as the season turns to fall and winter, the house rebounds and improves due to some increased moisture in the weather patterns.
Something could randomly get out of whack one season and then get corrected the following year due to weather changes. But there’s no way to predict this even with the most fantastic weatherman on the planet. Nobody can predict these things with certainty.
All I can tell you is that we do run across a handful of homes each year that rebound. The foundation settlement conditions seem to improve on their own and a few homeowners decide it isn’t time for foundation repairs after all.
Can You Predict What Will Happen Without Foundation Repairs?
Did you happen to notice a pattern with all 3 of the possibilities above? In case you missed it, here it is. We really can’t predict the future. If we could, we probably wouldn’t be in the foundation repair business, we would probably be betting on sporting event outcomes in Las Vegas or playing the stock market. . .
It’s a little bit funny how often a homeowner thinks we are the *fortune tellers of foundations* but we honestly can’t promise that your home will or will not move more later on. There’s just no telling. So like the stock market, past performance does not guarantee future results. There are many factors at play in a settling home and we can’t know with certainty what will happen to any given home foundation in the future.
But when you were reading the scenarios above, which one sounded like the most likely possibility to you? Was there one that sounded the most like your home? Which one would you bet on if you were in Vegas?
Decide on Foundation Repairs By Considering Future Use
Believe it or not, you’re a bigger expert on your own home than you think. So which possibility sounded more like your home? Option 1, 2, or 3? I can tell you’re feeling more confident about what is most likely to happen to your home in the future.
At Anchor Foundation Repair, we work to educate and empower homeowners to work through their foundation repair journey with confidence. We want you to feel like you’re making the right decision for yourself.
Besides *feelings and functionality,* thinking about your plans for the home down the line will offer further insight to decide if and when to get foundation repairs. You might also consider the future use of your home to help you decide if getting foundation repairs is the best option right now or not.