The suburban city of Evanston, Illinois is just 12 miles north of the downtown Chicago area. This location and the city's close proximity to Lake Michigan make this city a great place to live. There are however, a few challenges that come from living in this area. Like any of the towns near Chicago and throughout areas of the Midwest, the city of Evanston deals with its fair share of nasty winter weather and hot, humid, summer days every year. These conditions are not always good for keeping your home's foundation in good shape.
Cold temperatures as well as the sudden and recurring temperature changes that often occur in the Chicago, IL area can cause the concrete foundation under your home to heave and settle repeatedly. This can lead to foundation movement, settlement, or even buckling, which in turn may cause foundation cracks. Hot, dry weather can also cause problems, as it shrinks soil under your foundation, causing the concrete above to shift and settle unevenly. To find out if these are problems in your home, look for signs of foundation failure, including: cracks in foundation, sticking windows or doors, bowing or leaning walls, wall or floor cracks, leaning chimney, porch or stoop problems, ceiling cracks, and sloped or uneven floors.
If you find these issues in your Evanston, Illinois home, call the foundation repair experts at United Structural Systems right away. We offer foundation repair solutions for every situation. If your foundation is shifting, we can use helical tiebacks or soil nails to pull it back into place. These devices work by using the stability of the soil around your yard to provide opposite tension for bowing, leaning, and shifting foundation walls, as they are installed underground horizontally, adjacent to the affected walls. Helical piers and steel push piers, underpinning devices that are installed vertically under the foundation, offer the lift and support that sinking and settling foundations need.
To keep your home well protected from not just foundation problems, but also basement water issues, we offer several waterproofing options. These systems are all designed to remove water from your basement and reduce the amount of water that makes its way into your home. If you think you may have a basement water issue, look for the following symptoms in your home:
These are all indications that your Evanston, IL home is in need of waterproofing. First, work on waterproofing the exterior of your home with methods like downspout discharge options and window well drains. These keep water from pooling near the concrete and seeping through cracks. Exterior drainage with a waterproof membrane for the foundation can also help to seal groundwater and surface water out of your basement. Next, invest in interior waterproofing with water channels and pipes to collect water and dump it into the sump pit. Water that is collected by interior drainage components can then go to the sump pump system, where it is removed from the home.
Yet another waterproofing option that we can install in your home is a vapor barrier to prevent water seepage. This is a sheeting made of foil or plastic that is put in along the interior surface of the crawlspace. The sheeting is vapor resistant, and works to seal moisture and water vapor out of your home to keep mold from growing there.
Contact us here at United Structural Systems right away for more information about foundation repair and waterproofing in Evanston, Illinois.
