What Can Happen If Your Foundation Is Not Level?

An uneven foundation can cause structural damage, uneven floors, and instability.

Your home's foundation is the backbone of your entire home. It guarantees your walls, floors, and roof remain aligned and enhances both functionality and aesthetics.

When the foundation is uneven, it can result in a variety of structural and safety problems that threaten your home over time. Over time, it leads to costly damage, such as water seepage, cracking walls, shifting floors, and so on. Unfortunately, the signs of an imbalanced foundation are commonly overlooked until the damage is advanced. 

Read on to learn more about the risks and consequences of an uneven foundation. 

9 Serious Impact of and Uneven Foundation

When the foundation of your home becomes uneven, it creates a domino-like effect that can impact each and every aspect of your property. One problem leads to another and creates more complex situations for homeowners to deal with. 

Here are 9 serious impacts an uneven foundation can have on your property: 

1. Structural Damage Risks

Structural damage is the most immediate threat. Your foundation is shifting, and the uneven pressure of that causes your house's frame to be bent. Such bending can bow walls and sag roof lines, and weaken supports. These problems can be serious and over time can have a serious negative effect on your home’s structural integrity, possibly making it unsafe.

2. Water Damage and Moisture Problems

Water is your foundation's worst enemy and an uneven foundation creates a red carpet for moisture invasion. Once water gets in the foundation, it triggers a destructive chain reaction: rotting support beams, rusted metal supports, weakened concrete, and toxic mold growth. A little moisture leak can easily turn into a big moisture crisis, which threatens the health and safety of your family.

3. Impact on Property Value

One of the most significant effects of an uneven foundation is its impact on your home's market value. Some foundation issues are simply too expensive to fix and recur which makes buyers discouraged. Any signs of unevenness, from hairline cracks in the floor to sloping floors, can set off warning flags with an inspection.

4. Interior Living Space Effects

Waking up every day to doors that you cannot shut, windows that crack, and floors that move like a fun house isn't just annoying. It’s a constant reminder that your home isn’t safe. Your home becomes unstable, as walls come loose leaving the ceiling hanging, the cabinet doors swing open randomly, and tiles crack underfoot.

5. Utility Line Stress

Your home’s critical systems gas, water, and electrical lines depend on a stable foundation. These lifelines can snap, leak, or not work at all as your foundation shifts. Breaks to gas lines can lead to explosive situations. Your home can flood because of plumbing failures. A spark can damage electrical systems and start fires. Unfortunately, these are not just repair problems, they are potential disasters just waiting to happen.

6. Safety Concerns

Your family's safety is at risk. Tripping hazards because of irregular floors, partial collapses due to structures that might fail, and doors that cannot latch compromise home security. Each passing day with issues in the foundation places your loved ones in greater danger. 

7. External Issues

The issues don’t end at your doorstep. Foundation issues will crack your driveway, disturb your landscaping, and affect neighboring properties. Visible cracks forming on the exterior of your home’s walls not only destroy your lovely curb appeal but may also violate homeowner association rules. Red flags to potential purchasers and property assessors, these external signs are.

8. Energy Efficiency Decline

An uneven foundation can also impact your home's energy efficiency. Gaps and cracks in the structure let conditioned air go out and outdoor air in which makes your HVAC system run overtime to maintain indoor temperatures. That’s not only a financial burden on energy bills but it also abuses heating and cooling systems and puts unnecessary wear and tear on them.

9. Pest Infestations

Unevenness can create foundation gaps that make easy access for pests such as termites, ants, and rodents. After they move inside, they damage the structure further by gnawing wires, burrowing in wood, or contaminating insulation. Also, the mere presence of pests can be harmful to health as it is the cause of infestation.

How to Prevent Uneven Foundation Issues?

If you're struggling with foundation concerns, don't wait until the disaster strikes. As recommended by foundation experts at PierMagic, you need to take action right away and protect your property. Here are some special considerations you should keep in mind: 

i) Regular Inspection Routine

Every spring and fall, it’s a good idea to check your foundation’s visible areas and scrutinize them more after heavy rains or extreme weather. Take photos and measurements and document any changes. 

ii) Watch For These Warning Signs

Look for major symptoms such as sloping floors, stuck doors or windows, and visible foundation cracks. These warning signs usually show that there is a more serious structural problem that needs to be looked at.

iii) Professional Assessment Schedule

Check your foundation professionally annually or biannually. A qualified structural engineer can pick up potential problems before they become big trouble and recommend the right solutions.

iv) Preventive Maintenance

Clean your gutters and keep them away from your foundation, creating a 6” slope, about 10 feet away from your house. Water is your foundation’s worst enemy, so ensure to fix any plumbing leaks as soon as they occur.

v) Professional Solutions

Depending on your problem, foundation repair professionals can use any number of pier and beam adjustments, or hydraulic lifting systems. Problems can be caught early, which means they have far less scope and complexity to repair than they might otherwise.