It’s important to get into the habit of checking your home for foundation damage.
Foundations may not be on the forefront of our minds — not as much as needing to touch up chipped paint or fixing cracked tiles in the living room — but even the slightest damage to your foundation can result in major headaches down the road.
Many foundation or basement walls will get damaged from the elements and show signs of leaning in, bulging inward, bowing, or rotating inward. When this happens, our expert foundation repair team installs helical tie-back anchors to support the foundation.
Keep reading below to learn when these anchors should be installed.
What Damages Foundation Walls?
First, you should understand that foundation or basement walls can be damaged for several reasons:
- Poor yard drainage
- Water pooling in your yard
- Your home being built on expansive clay soil
- Hydrostatic pressure on your foundation walls
- Consolidation of the fill soil
- Inoperative drain tile systems
- Plumbing leaks
- And other environmental factors
As you can see in this list, many of the reasons for a bowing or bulging basement wall include too much water, unsuitable soil, or a damaged drainage system.
It doesn’t matter what caused the damage to your foundation, it needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Doing nothing could threaten the structural integrity of your home.
Professionals from United Structural Systems of Illinois, Inc. recommend helical tie-back anchor installation to secure your foundation.
Bowing Concrete Basement Walls
One of the most common reasons we install foundation helical tie-back anchors is after observing concrete walls with large shear cracks running from top to bottom. This is a sign of displacement or the wall being at a different elevation than the rest of the property.
Inward Deflection of Cinder Block Walls
Helical tie-back anchors are also used to help clients with a cinder block foundation. When these walls are damaged, they will begin to show signs of inward deflection.
This is shown when the center cracks in the mortar and runs horizontally across the wall. A crown or peak is created, showing that the basement wall is beginning to bow inward.
The anchors are installed to stabilize the wall from continuing to move inward or to realign the wall back to plumb and level.
Do You Need Helical Tie-Back Anchors?
If what we’ve described above sounds like your foundation, it may be time to call a professional repair company like USS to install helical tie-back anchors.
The installation is quick and effective, and these anchors are a permanent solution to your foundation damage.
Call us today at 847-382-2882 if you have any questions about foundation repair, or if you’d like to schedule a free consultation.
