Experts in Foundation and Slab Repair in Greater Pittsburgh

How heaving foundations & slabs lead to damage of your home

Foundation upheaval can lift an entire structure, but more often it forces parts of a foundation or slab upwards, while other sections remain stationary.

Have you noticed cracks in the walls of your home, cracking concrete floors, or displaced or tilting slab sections? If so, your foundation or slab floor is moving upwards, leading to cracks in the walls and floors of your home.

Keystone Basement Systems are your local experts for foundation heave repair. We can help you identify the actual cause of your problem and provide you with a quality solution. Call us today to get a free estimate on all our foundation repair services in Pittsburgh, Cranberry Township, McKeesport and the nearby areas.

What causes foundation upheaval?

Cracks on floor slabs that are caused by foundation heave come together to a point or form an enclosed loop where the heave is greatest.

Heave is the upward movement of a foundation or slab caused by underlying soils that expand or swell. This occurs due to an increase in moisture or by freezing forces. Heave is more common with slabs than foundations because slabs have less weight to resist heaving forces. Unless there is a long period of drought, heave most commonly occurs within the first few years of the building's construction.

Slab and foundation heave are most commonly caused by these four forces:

• Expansive soils: Soils with a high clay content expand significantly when they get wet. The excavation for a foundation often gives the soil around and under a house a chance to dry out and shrink. After the house is built, clay-rich soil that gets soaked during wet spells can cause heaving problems while also damaging foundation walls.
• Frost heave: Water increases in volume by nearly 10% when it freezes, and wet soil can expand even more when frozen. When wet soil freezes the resulting pressure can cause the slab or foundation wall to shift and crack. The colder the temperature, the deeper the soil will freeze. Frost forces can lift a foundation dramatically - sometimes by several inches - leading to serious heave damage.
• Plumbing leaks: Leaks or breaks in plumbing lines that run underneath a concrete slab or through a foundation wall can deposit moisture underneath the foundation and slab. This moisture can be from supply lines, waste lines, or even your home's HVAC system. Over time, this moisture can cause the soils underneath the foundation to expand, which will then cause them to push up on the structure above.
• Prolonged or heavy precipitation: Too much precipitation combined with too little drainage away from the house will lead to increased moisture underneath your foundation. Moisture that comes into contact with expansive soil can result in heaving of your foundation and slabs. Precipitation can also cause expansion in the soils on the sides of your foundation, leading to bowing, buckling walls.

How we solve foundation heave

Since unwanted water accumulating in the soil under your home – and the pressure it brings – is typically the cause of slab and foundation heave, our first priority will be to eliminate water sources wherever possible. We will check for underground water line leaks, clogged drains, broken sprinkler lines, as well as faulty gutter and leader systems. Once we have fixed water problems, we can begin making repairs like:

• Concrete grinding for minor heaves, especially in outdoor slabs
• Soil stabilization by polymer injection to resist water infiltration
• Mechanical foundation repair, including the use of helical piers that can both support your foundation and to keep it from heaving in the future

Other causes for heaving include tree roots and pressure from adjacent buildings. Regardless of the cause, a professional foundation contractor is the best person to evaluate foundation heaving problems and suggest suitable solutions for your home.

We do foundation heave repair in PA, WV, & OH!

At Keystone Basement Systems, we have the tools and training available to fix foundations and slabs that are experiencing problems with upheaval. We offer foundation and slab heave repair quotes to all within our Western PA, Northern West Virginia, and Eastern Ohio service area.

If you would like to schedule a free, no-obligation appointment with one of our foundation specialists, call or e-mail us today! We proudly serve Pittsburgh, Cranberry Township, McKeesport, Bethel Park, Morgantown, Monroeville, Wheeling, Gibsonia, Allison Park, New Castle, and throughout the nearby areas.

Looking for a price? Get a no cost, no obligation free estimate.