Foundation Repair In The City of San Marcos
With the location of Cal State San Marcos and Palomar College, a fantastic quality of life, and plenty of trails for residents to hike at, there are plenty of residential and property owners who enjoy being in the city of San Marcos, CA, to raise a family and grow a business. The homes and businesses are as rich as the city’s recreational and cultural programs around its quality communities.
However, San Marcos, CA, residential and commercial properties are still prone to dealing with foundation, crawlspace, and hillside-related issues, especially when you have reliable foundation repair contractors in the area.
Dalinghaus Construction in particular has been in the foundation repair business since 2015, specializing in foundation stabilization, foundation leveling, deep injection with Polyurethane foam, crawlspace repair, and hillside stabilization. We’ve completed more than 2,300 foundation repair projects in Southern California, and Nevada, helping residential and commercial property owners who have trusted us and our expertise to finish projects of any size with accuracy property owners like you can count on. We can help you with your San Marcos, CA, property.
Signs of foundation, crawlspace, and hillside issues in San Marcos, CA
You’ll want to contact a licensed and qualified foundation repair contractor when you see more than one of these signs. Finding one of these signs on their own isn’t necessarily indicative of a foundation issue. More than one is concerning, especially if you’re not sure what exactly is going on.
- Uneven or sloping floors
- Cracks on walls, ceiling, and/or flooring
- Gaps between the walls and ceilings, floors, or wall corners
- Sticking doors and windows
- Leaning and tilting chimneys
- Wall cracks along windows, doors, and foundations
Your crawlspace, while part of your foundation, might be dealing with something outside of foundation settlement, which means an area of your home or business is slowly sinking into the ground. You might see your floor look off and feel saggy as though you’re about to fall into the soil underneath. This means your floor isn’t being properly supported for a couple of reasons.
- The wood in your crawlspace is deteriorating and needs replaced.
- The posts and pads aren’t holding up your floor.
You’ll understand you have hillside issues when you can see your retaining wall start to fail. Your retaining wall will bow, buckle, lean, and sometimes crack if the damage is significant enough. Your wall is trying to combat laterally moving soil. Moisture can add hydrostatic pressure, which exacerbates the issues your retaining wall is dealing with.
The soils in San Marcos, CA, are mostly sandy loams, which are susceptible to soil erosion when the occasional bits of moisture present themselves in the area. Though they don’t shrink or expand very much when water’s present, they can still expose your home or business to foundation settlement.
These reasons are why you’ll want an expert to come to your property to do a foundation inspection. Dalinghaus Construction offers solid foundation repair solutions so you don’t need to worry about your foundation ever again.
How does the foundation repair process go in San Marcos, CA?
The first step is the initial foundation inspection with one of our Project Design Specialists. These can be scheduled online or by calling Dalinghaus Construction at (877)360-9277. This process also includes looking at your crawlspace and retaining wall.
Your specialist will be at your property to look around for foundation, crawlspace, and hillside issues, lasting 60-90 minutes. During that time, the specialist creates a scaled drawing of your property with floor elevation measurements to figure out the problem and find the area most affected by these issues.
The day on or after your initial foundation inspection, you’ll receive a foundation repair plan from your specialist, which includes the full report on what was found, a CAD drawing of your property, and the recommended foundation repair plan.
And if you agree to continue forward with your foundation repair, you’ll finally have your project scheduled so foundation issues with your home or business are a thing of the past.
Methods of foundation repair used in San Marcos, CA
You’ll find a variety of foundation repair methods used to stabilize your home or business depending on which company you go with. Dalinghaus Construction uses galvanized steel Push pier and Helical pier underpinning systems, which are more affordable and very effective at stabilizing your residential or commercial structure.
Each of these methods serves the same purpose of stabilizing the building on your property. They’re also utilized for the added bonus of foundation leveling, which involves lifting the area of the building affected by foundation settlement.
But why are there two systems that do the same thing? Well, it has to do with how each system is installed to do their jobs.
How Push piers are put into the ground is hard to miss based on the name. These piers are galvanized steel tubes hydraulically driven into the ground using the weight of your home or business until reaching competent soil or bedrock. The key factor is the load the structure exudes.
When a structure is too lightweight for Push piers to be effective, Helical piers will be used in their place. These galvanized steel piers have helices at the base that allow them to be driven into the ground like a screw, separate from the building. They’re driven in until reaching competent soil or the recommended torque. They’ll then be attached to the retrofit bracket that is attached to the foundation.
Again, they’re used primarily for foundation stabilization, though they’re effective for foundation leveling if you choose to go that bonus route.
Whether you decide to lift the structure on your residential or commercial property with a slab-on-grade foundation or you’re dealing with foundation settlement due to soil erosion, the soil needs to be strengthened to add reinforcement. This is why you’ll have Polyurethane foam injected into the soil.
Polyurethane foam is wonderful when it comes to providing additional stabilization to your slab-on-grade foundation, especially when it expands rapidly, cures in 15 minutes, is light, can be as hard as concrete, and is environmentally friendly. Deep injection with Polyurethane is effective in the areas of soil densification, void fill, and can be used to relevel a structure when the conditions are right for it.
You’ll want Crawlspace repair done when you’re seeing and feeling your floor sag. These repairs can happen in a couple of ways. The first happens when the wood holding up your floor starts to deteriorate. One of our production teams shores up your crawlspace to replace the failing wood. The other method will be to have crawlspace jacks put in when the posts and pads are failing at doing their job. Either way, your floors will feel flat. The way it’s supposed to be.
Then there are those pesky foundation cracks that make themselves present when your residential or commercial property endures foundation settlement. They can be addressed in a couple of ways. One way is gravity-feeding Epoxy, a glue-like resin, into the crack and letting it dry to hold everything together. The second way is using Carbon Fiber stitching and applying it over your crack to provide additional strength to your foundation and prevent water from reaching the rebar inside.
How do you do hillside stabilization?
Hydrostatic pressure is a powerful force that can damage your retaining wall when you least expect it. You don’t want water to build up. Let it escape somewhere. Weep holes can be installed in your retaining wall so the moisture can seep out and relieve that unwarranted pressure.
Lateral movement without the added hydrostatic pressure is still a powerful force. This is when Helical tiebacks are put through the retaining wall and into the soil. They’re very similar to helical piers, except they’re driven horizontally until reaching competent soil or the recommended torque. They’re then anchored to your retaining wall to help with hillside stabilization and prevent further movement.
OUR PROCESS
Why you should have foundation repair, crawlspace repair, and hillside stabilization in San Marcos, CA
One
You’ll know you have foundation issues when they present themselves in the form of cosmetic damage. It won’t feel good or make you feel comfortable by any means. Foundation repair via foundation stabilization lets you address the cosmetic damage.
Two
You don’t want your damage to become worse. Foundation issues are unforgiving, causing cosmetic damage to become structural. This doesn’t happen often, but it can if you put off your foundation repair for a long time.
Three
It would be nice if foundation issues could repair themselves. Unfortunately, they don’t. They tend to get worse. Foundation repair will fix these issues permanently.
Four
You may not have noticed it, but the windows and doors around you are being affected by foundation settlement. They might feel sticky, making them harder to open and close. Don’t expect that sensation to go away without foundation repair. You can temporarily offset the issue, but it will likely come back.
Five
Don’t expect to get the full value of your property if you plan to sell. All of those foundation issues need to be legally disclosed when on the market. Banks don’t like to give loans for properties with foundation issues, limiting you to Cash Buyers. They can negotiate the price down by 30%.
Six
When your floor gets droopy, you will feel the same. You don’t want your raised foundation with a crawlspace to fail on you. Crawlspace repair will not only make you comfortable in your own home, but you’ll also feel better.
Seven
When the soil stays where it’s at, you’re protecting your property. Laterally moving soil that affects your retaining wall can also affect the structure of your property. Sometimes it exacerbates the already existing foundation issues. Hillside stabilization helps in preventing those issues from becoming worse.
Eight
You’ll want foundation repair, crawlspace repair, or hillside stabilization if you intend to keep your property alive past your lifetime. It is one of your top investments in life. Plus, these repairs help maintain your property’s full value.
What next? Schedule your foundation inspection!
If you want to ensure the longevity and stability of your property, it’s best to start with a foundation inspection, especially if you’re not entirely sure what’s happening with your home or business. Foundation issues will become worse before they get better.
If you’re in San Marcos, CA, you’ll want to have an experienced professional in the foundation repair industry come out and inspect your property who is transparent and trustworthy. Dalinghaus Construction will let you know what’s happening every step of the way.
To schedule an appointment, you can go online or call (877)360-9277.
