According to the Farmers' Almanac, the Best Days for Home Repair are upon us. The 2009 Farmers Almanac reports that the timeframe to perform home repairs are August 21 to October 19. Do not hesitate, schedule your foundation repair and other home improvement projects to take advantage of the weather and other general conditions. Whether it be heaving, a settling basement, bowed walls or a water problem foundation problems will not go away until you focus your attention upon them.

Once you have had your foundation underpinned, the Farmers Almanac says that the best days to go fishing are September 3^rd thru the 6^th. You will not want to miss these days of relaxing and spending time with a friend fishing and enjoying this great time of year.

Other “best days” of note are listed below:

            Aug. 23^rd – Cut firewood, mow to increase growth, dig holes, go hunting, wax floors

            Aug. 24^th – Bake, cut firewood, mow to increase growth, dig holes, go hunting, wax floors, get married, buy clothes, entertain friends, host a party

            Aug. 29^th – Cut firewood, mow to increase growth, castrate farm animals, dig holes, wean, potty train, wash windows, advertise to sell, travel for pleasure

                        Sept. 4^th – Cut hair to retard growth, mow to retard growth, castrate farm animals, dig post holes, wean, quit smoking, potty train, wash wooden floors, paint, start a diet to lose weight, kill wild onions and weeds, host a party

            Sept. 8^th – Dry fruits and vegetables, cut hair to retard growth, mow to retard growth, pick apples and pears, quit smoking, perform demolition, wash wooden floors, start diet to lose weight

            Sept. 14^th – Can fruits and vegetables, harvest, get married

Now that your next few weeks are planned for you visit www.perfectpier.com for the newest engineered solution for foundation repairs.

When it comes to structural foundation repairs, the most common damage is due to water. Water or the lack thereof causes many problems, from settling, to bowed basement walls, to cracks and heaving. There are differing ways that water can get affect your foundation.

Steps to Prevention:

Waterproofing your basement is the best way to prevent possible foundation damage due to water. Going through with this action can possibly save you thousands of dollars in foundation repair costs, and maintain the value of your home.

There are many possible causes of water damage to your foundation. The most common cause is the possibility of having soil that has a flat or negative slope. This will cause water to pool and collect against or near your foundation. Another possibility is that the builder of your house did not properly waterproof your foundation, by using damproofing opposed to waterproofing methods.

This is the most dangerous type of damage due to the fact that you cannot easily see the signs of damage. The main cause of these types of damages is also hard to detect, which is why it is very important to contact a plumber as soon as you suspect water getting into your basement area. They will be able to inspect areas you will not be able to see in your home and see if there are any leaks or possible entry points of water.

If the plumber detects any leaks it is very important that you consult with a contractor or engineer for an inspection of possible foundation damage. Catching foundation damage early, before it gets a chance to develop can save you a lot of money and aggravation.

The next most common cause of foundation moisture problems is poor gutters. Blocked or sagging guttering prevents proper drainage of water. This lack of proper drainage causes pooling water around your basement which leads to hydrostatic pressure on the walls. This pressure builds up resulting in potentially catastrophic damage.

As a homeowner, it is your responsibility to protect your home. Ignoring the needs of your house will not only leave you homeless, but it will also cause you to lose all of the hard earned money you used to pay for your home. Maintaining proper drainage will pay huge dividends when it comes to your foundation.

Crawl space foundations are a very popular type of construction throughout the US and many homeowners know that many crawlspaces have one inherent drawback – sagging floors. Floors that are sagging or not level create many issues for homeowners from cracked tiles and squeaky floors to potentially failed foundations. These issues require that homeowners seek a solution for supporting these floors to original height and levelness. The problem is the many flawed systems designed to provide homeowners relief.

The first aspect to review when looking for foundation repair solutions is to understand the cause of the problem. In the construction of a crawlspace foundation, piers are placed below the support beams to give support for the home. These piers can be made from a variety of materials ranging from concrete blocks to wooden posts. These piers rest upon either shallow concrete pads or lightly compacted soils. Over time these piers move with the soil due to fluctuation in soils moisture, freeze – thaw cycles or soil compaction due to water intrusion. As the pier sinks into the soil the floor is no longer supported, hence sagging floors.

Many poor foundation repair contractors place ill-conceived solutions such as steel posts or by simply encapsulating the crawl space with a vapor barrier in an effort to control the moisture. By supplementing a crawl space foundation with steel posts, resting on the soil or even a shallow foundation (<7’ deep), is a temporary fix at best. Obviously resting a new support in the same fashion as the failed piers will not work for long. If the foundation repair or waterproofing contractor installs an encapsulation system without a deep foundation support system this will only slow the settlement without solving the problem.

Installing a deep foundation support system is best done by using a steel push pier system that drives steel pier pipe down to a load bearing soil well below soils that are affected by moisture. Earth Contact Products, the leading resistance pier manufacturer, has developed such a system. ECP’s Model 200 crawl space pier system is specifically designed for crawl spaces and other limited access areas. This system uses the weight of the structure to drive the pier pipe to a load bearing stratum and then using a unique manifold system the structure is simultaneously lifted and locked into place providing a solid, secure foundation for your home.