From droughts to flooding, Indiana residents experience all sorts of weather extremes — and these climatic changes can be rough on your home’s foundation! Cycles of dry, hot weather interspersed with excessive rain can spell disaster.
Indiana Soil and Your Foundation
In Indiana — and across much of the Midwest — many homes and commercial structures are built on what’s known as expansive soil. This type of soil has high clay content; when clay soil gets wet, it soaks up the moisture and expands. When clay soil dries, it shrinks, hardens, and cracks. All of this expanding and contracting creates an unstable base for your Indiana foundation, causing it to settle, sink, and even crack.
When a foundation experiences damage, it’s a lot more likely to let water in, causing wall deterioration and cracks. A humid basement or crawl space can also have negative effects on your health; humid conditions promote the growth of molds, mildews, and fungus spores, as well as attracting unwanted insect and rodent pests.
Signs of Foundation Damage
Unlike many other home repairs, foundation damage isn’t something you can wait to fix; if foundation damage is left untreated, it can lead to extensive structural damage. Tell-tale signs of Indiana foundation damage include:
• Wet basement or crawl space
• Uneven, sloping floors
• Brown streaks or efflorescence — a white, powdery substance — on walls
• Cracks in walls, ceilings, dry wall, bricks or mortar
• Chimneys pulling away from walls
• Doors or windows that won’t shut properly
• Gaps above window and door frames
What Can Olshan Do for Your Foundation?
Olshan Foundation Solutions has been repairing damaged Indiana foundations and fixing leaky basements and crawl spaces for years. Olshan’s foundation repair experts are ready to help Indiana homeowners in Frankfort, Indianapolis, Jeffersonville, La Grange, New Albany, Richmond, Shelbyville, and more. Get in touch with us and we’ll get your foundation back on solid ground.
