The mountainous areas in Northern Arizona are excellent in the winter when it comes to the sweet slopes for skiing or snowboarding. Though snow doesn’t like to stay year-round like the planet Hoth in Star Wars. When the snow melts, it can be a nightmare for you when you own a residential or commercial property in the region.
Whether it’s moisture impacting your crawlspace or lateral movement making the signs of foundation issues worse, you’ll want to make sure your Northern Arizona property receives the appropriate foundation repair it needs.
Dalinghaus Construction has completed over 2,300 foundation repair projects since 2015, having over 100 years of combined experience. We’ve worked all around Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona. We’ve repaired crawlspaces and helped property owners with their homes or businesses in Northern Arizona. We more than understand foundation issues that affect Northern Arizona.
What are the signs and symptoms of foundation issues?
When it comes to Northern Arizona, there’s a whole lot of foundation settlement. Heaving isn’t as common, though it does occur. Either way, you’ll want to look for more than one of these signs. One isolated issue doesn’t necessarily mean your foundation has a problem.
- Drywall cracks
- Stucco cracks
- Concrete slab cracks
- Ceiling cracks
- Tile cracks
- Chimney cracks
- Leaning chimney
- Sloping floors
- Doors and windows are hard to open and close
- They’ll feel sticky and give you a workout.
- Water leaks
These signs are standard for any residential or commercial property in Arizona, Southern California, or Nevada. This all said, Northern Arizona is special for its unique foundation issues.
What foundation issues are unique to Northern Arizona?
When people think of Arizona, it’s the usual thoughts of the heat and desert areas. We also have mountainous regions. This makes homes, businesses, and retaining walls susceptible to damage due to lateral movement.
A portion of the homes in Show Low and Flagstaff have raised foundations with a crawlspace or a basement foundation. The biggest issue you’ll have is all the moisture underneath the crawlspace due to rainfall and mainly snow.
Snow will blanket the slopes for months, which is great for skiers, but not so much for a home or business owner. When the snow melts, you can expect plenty of water to affect your crawlspace.
The amount of water getting into your crawlspace will cause soil erosion. The issue is trying to keep the crawlspace dry.
Northern Arizona endures a whole lot of settlement. So if a crawlspace needs fixing, it will be reinforced using Push pier underpinnings, Helical pier underpinnings, and crawlspace jacks to support the interior.
In general, Arizona is prone to have residential or commercial properties with terrible drainage. The state is generally dry, though monsoon season is a thing. In the valley, you expect plenty of rainfall to cause damage to your foundation as water pools up.
Thankfully, many home and business owners are putting in gutters and Trench drains. Sometimes too little too late when movement has already occurred, but improvements do happen.
Foundation issues you’ll likely see in Northern Arizona
Large cracks
Down in the valley, you’ll find cracks maybe a quarter of an inch. Up in mountainous regions, you’ll see large cracks that are huge. I don’t mean big. I mean HUGE. Like three-quarters of an inch.
Dalinghaus Construction has seen some homes that have settled 6-8 inches in Northern Arizona. And that’s not including the lateral movement that contributed to the damage. The side-to-side movement is even worse.
Usually, the damage caused to your home or business is cosmetic, though the contribution of lateral movement along with foundation settlement exacerbates the problems from being strictly cosmetic to becoming structural.
Moved floors
Since there are many crawlspace foundations in the areas with higher elevations, you aren’t likely to see floor cracks. You’ll experience sagging floors, one side is higher, the other is lower, or something feels off. And you’ll really feel it.
The moisture in the crawlspace eats away at the beams. So we have to get into the crawlspace to see if those beams are still good. We often have to replace or add beams.
Foundation repair solutions in Northern Arizona
Galvanized steel piering systems happen quite often in areas such as Flagstaff or Show Low. With there being a ton of rocks, we use Push piers more often. We sometimes go with helical piers, but that ultimately depends on if the soil conditions are correct for that solution.
Push piers – This type of underpinning uses the weight of your structure to be hydraulically driven into the ground until reaching competent soil or bedrock.
Helical piers – Let’s pretend your home is too light for Push piers to be effective. Helical piers have helices at the base of the lead pier to be screwed into the ground hydraulically using a helical torque motor until reaching competent soil or bedrock.
We also do crawlspace repair for your raised foundation, especially if any wood needs to be added or replaced. That and we will install crawlspace jacks to reinforce your floors.
Learn about the crawlspace inspection process, cost, and more so you know what to expect.
And watch our video on what crawlspace repairs are in foundation repair.
How much is foundation repair in Northern Arizona
The unfortunate answer is that the cost of your foundation repairs depends on the extent of the damage your residential or commercial property is experiencing. It also depends on the best foundation repair method best fit for your circumstance.
When it comes to the average foundation repair job, the cost comes to around $26,000.
Read our article by Mark Cook that covers the factors that contribute to the cost of foundation repair.
What next? – Schedule a foundation inspection for your Northern Arizona property
You’ve learned about signs of foundation issues in Northern Arizona, the issues unique to Northern Arizona, what signs you can expect to see, and foundation repair solutions that work in these areas. The next thing to do is schedule your foundation inspection with Dalinghaus Construction.
Dalinghaus Construction offers foundation repair solutions that any other contractor has with a team dedicated to finding the best foundation repair solutions – just look at our reviews!
Your foundation inspection is free unless your home is on the market. Foundation inspections done for real estate purposes will be $1,000, which is credited toward your foundation repair.
Learn more about foundation issues in the state of Arizona.
This may not be a big deal if you’re up in the mountains, though take a look at how monsoon season affects your home, especially when you’re in the Valley.
Take a look at our article that goes into the step-by-step process of how foundation inspections work in Arizona.
You can schedule the foundation inspection of your Northern Arizona property by going online or calling Dalinghaus Construction at (877)360-9277.
