How Your Crawl Space Affects the Overall Health of Your Home
The condition of your crawl space affects the overall health of your home. However, the crawlspace is also often an out-of-sight, out-of-mind part of a home. Here are a few things to consider when it comes to crawl space maintenance and repair.
Why would a crawl space need repairs?
No matter how solidly an old house was built, nature will affect it over time. This means that there will inevitably be foundation and structural problems when buying a 100-year-old house.
The original framing of the old house could be compromised. It’s worth getting an expert opinion from a structural engineer or contractor. If the foundation requires extensive repair or replacement, it can get expensive. Sure Safe can help prevent future damage with affordable and effective solutions.
How do failing crawl spaces affect the health of your home?
If you own a crawl space home with soft or sagging floors it may be because of how the house was constructed. Construction codes continue to evolve every year, and older homes were not built to today’s standard. Most old homes with sagging floors were not built on the modern concrete foundation, they are sitting on dirt. If the floor pitches towards the center or stairs, it can be an indication that the house was built on dirt. The root cause is likely that the house has been settling further down over time.
While perhaps not requiring foundation piers or other major repairs, addressing foundation cracks can uncover issues with leaks and plumbing of which homeowners may be unaware. It is best to discover these concerns ahead of time. Especially because they can affect the value of the home in the event of a sale or purchase
How do crawl spaces affect the value of the home?
Foundation problems can affect the sale of a house in many ways. It can be difficult for a homeowner to determine whether or not they should try to fix the foundation before selling the house. Selling as-is to an owner-occupant can be risky for the homeowner so disclosure is key if the foundation is going to be left unrepaired.
Calling a professional foundation repair company before listing a home offers several benefits to the current owners. First of all, those cracks might actually be a bigger issue than you thought.
This is much better to discover before listing than after the required inspections that could be a deal breaker and cause a buyer to walk away from a contract. Avoiding this headache and having the time to choose how to address it are well worth finding out beforehand.
It is advisable for the seller to fix any foundation issues prior to putting a house on the market because it is difficult for a buyer to obtain a mortgage if the foundation is damaged. Of course, if the buyer is paying cash and does not require a bank loan, he/she may be prepared to buy the home "as is." If the house needs significant foundation repair that you don't take care of, you're likely to turn away a large pool of buyers and attract a group of house flippers who want a deep discount on the price. Foundation issues can reduce the sales price by 10% to 15%.
Sure Safe can help avoid these issues by catching issues early and providing effective and affordable solutions to any potential crawl space foundation issues. Contact us today to set up and engineer-certified inspection.
