What Indicates That Your Home Needs Channel Anchors?

When it comes to a foundation issue, you can usually look to the basement. Whether you’re still in the process of finishing up your basement or you finished it a while ago, it’s good to stay vigilant. Here are signs that your home may need immediate attention and the use of channel anchors.  

• Wall Movement 

The most obvious sign of wall movement will be cracks in the walls of your basement. These cracks will typically be pretty obvious, and you may see issues surrounding the wall cracks, like efflorescence or general moisture around the cracks. On average, the cracks will appear horizontally or in a stair-step fashion as your foundation begins to tilt or bow. In cases where your foundation walls are concrete block, the cracking will show diagonally between each block of concrete. 

Along with wall damage, you’ll see your doors and windows begin to suffer. It will become difficult to open them, they’ll creak and stick, or they may even get fixed in place. These will likely be bigger problems along the outside of your home, but they can happen anywhere. Shifting walls due to an unstable foundation can translate to uneven doors and windows. This will stop them from functioning correctly. In some cases, they may even begin to break. 

• Tilting and Bowing at the Top and Bottom 

As soil puts pressure on the wall from the outside, it will begin to tilt inward. The tilting will be noticeable at first glance, as the wall appears to cave. The top will usually be further toward the interior than the bottom. Any sign of tilting means that the walls are taking on too much pressure from the outside. It could result in larger problems if ignored. Supporting the walls is imperative, or else they may collapse, let in moisture, or allow mold and pests to thrive. 

While bowing may look like tilting, a bowing wall is a very different beast. A bowed wall is more dramatic. If you have a bowed wall, you will notice that the middle of the wall is coming inward, but the top and the bottom are staying mostly in position. Similar to tilting walls, bowing walls can collapse, let in moisture, and allow pests into your basement. It’s important to fix bowing walls as quickly as possible, as the problems will definitely start more quickly than you would expect.