An Inch Is a Mile: What You Need to Know About House Settling

PierMagic’s Foundation Specialists Provide Answers Based on Years of Foundation Repair Experience

All houses experience settling, especially after it’s first built. It’s normal for a house to sink and find its place in the soil. In fact, a house can settle quite a bit early on. It’s not unusual for a house to sink a few inches in its first few years.

However, new homes aren’t the only ones that settle. There are several conditions that cause further settling and shifting in a home, especially related to the home’s age and construction, tree and bush roots, and - most significantly - soil conditions.

While house settling is a regular occurrence, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily “normal.” New homes and homes that were built a number of years ago can settle in ways that make the home’s foundation and structure vulnerable. When you hear someone say that their home’s sinking or leaning walls are due to normal settling, that’s typically not the case. Companies like PierMagic offer free inspections to determine the severity of the foundation issues.

Settling - even an inch over a year’s time - can make a big difference in whether your home experiences damage to the foundation, water in your basement, cracks in the basement walls, sticking doors, and other signs that a normal process has turned into something that a foundation specialist at PierMagic needs to address.

How Do I Know If House Settling Is Normal - Or If I Need to Find a Solution?

House settling is a regular part of a new home’s natural changes, and settling in an older home can also be due to natural occurrences. It happens quite frequently.

However, the question isn’t whether house settling occurs - but how much settling the home has experienced. A new home that experiences house settling of up to three inches in the first few years leaves a window of opportunity for foundation damage to occur. In any home - old or new - an inch a year is a big change, and enough of a difference to cause the kinds of issues that no one wants to have to deal with.

But how do you know if something needs to be addressed with a foundation specialist? Here are some of the biggest signs that your house settling needs attention:

• Uneven or sloping floors
• Cracks on the interior or exterior of your foundation walls
• Water in your basement after it rains
• A cracked or tilted chimney
• Sticking doors and windows (on any floor of the home)

Keep in mind that a house will continue to shift and settle throughout its lifetime, and those first few years include a significant amount of settling. Because of this, it’s crucial to recognize that the ill-effects of house settling can occur at any time in a house’s life. That’s why PierMagic recommends having an expert check on your foundation. Our expert technicians provide a free inspection and estimate when you begin to notice any of the signs we listed above.

What Can PierMagic Do to Protect My Home from the Effects of House Settling?

When we visit your home, we will conduct a comprehensive inspection of all the areas that could be affected by house settling. Our foundation specialists - who are experts in developing custom solutions for your home’s foundation and who know our area’s unique climate and soil conditions - can ensure that your home can continue to keep your family safe and remain the valuable investment you want it to be. Unlike national foundation companies that set up shops in local areas, PierMagic is owned and operated in Kansas City. We’ve studied Kansas and Missouri clay soil extensively to understand its impact on foundation and concrete.

House settling can pose a number of challenges for homeowners, like sticking doors and cracks in the basement walls. This is why PierMagic offers a wide variety of services with state-of-the-art technology- so that whatever issue needs to be addressed at your home, we can solve it.

Our foundation solutions include:

• Crack sealing
• Foundation piering
• Basement waterproofing
• Polyjacking - concrete lifting and leveling
• Concrete slab repair
• Bowed wall repair
• Ensuring proper soil grade
• Crawlspace encapsulation
• Drainage solutions, including French drain installation

Get In Touch with PierMagic for House Settling Solutions and Much More

We look forward to helping you with any foundation-related services you may need, including adding even more value to your home by installing egress windows in your basement or applying a beautiful concrete floor coating.

As a locally owned business, we work locally and hire locally to give our communities the attention they deserve. We know Kansas City’s homes, climate, and soil conditions, and pride ourselves on being expert foundation specialists. We hire veterans as skilled technicians to ensure that these honored members of our society can continue to apply their strengths in an important trade, and we also offer financing so that all homeowners in Kansas City receive the best foundation services available. Not many foundation companies can say the same.

If you are noticing the signs that house settling is getting the best of your home - such as sticking doors or windows, or cracks in your basement walls - give PierMagic a call at (816) 765-4800 or send us a message online. We’re here for you when you need us!