Signs of a foundation problem
Cracks in walls, ceilings and brick
A crack is the house showing you where it has moved. Its shape and direction say more than its length. Here is how to read one before you pick up the phone.
What the shape of a crack tells you
In brick, a crack that climbs through the mortar joints like a staircase usually follows a corner or a stretch of footing that has dropped or lifted. If it is wider at the top than at the bottom, a wall may have rotated. Width alone cannot establish how the wall moved.
Indoors, look at the corners of door and window openings. A diagonal crack running up and away from a corner is drywall or plaster tearing where the frame has racked. Hairline cracks that follow a taped drywall joint in a straight line, or sit where a wall meets the ceiling, are far more often the finish than the structure.
Other things that crack walls
- New houses dry out. Framing lumber shrinks in the first couple of years and opens joints in drywall.
- Roof trusses lift slightly in cold weather and can open a seasonal gap between an interior wall and the ceiling.
- A rusting steel lintel above a window or garage door pushes brick apart in a level line at the head of the opening.
- Brick expands and contracts with temperature. Long walls without movement joints can crack near the corners.
- A plumbing leak beside or under the footing softens the soil in one spot.
A company looking at your house should be able to say which of these it considered, and why it ruled them out.
A chimney or porch pulling away
A masonry chimney is heavy and often stands on its own small footing at the edge of the house. When that footing tilts, a gap opens between the chimney and the wall, wider at the top. Front porches and concrete steps behave the same way: they were poured separately, on shallower ground, and they settle on their own schedule.
Caulking the gap hides the movement without stopping it. Measure the gap at the top and at shoulder height, write down the numbers and the date, and measure again in a few months.
What an inspection looks at
Expect the person inspecting to walk the outside first and note every crack with its width and direction, then go indoors for the matching signs: doors out of square, floors off level, gaps at the trim. Floor heights are usually measured room by room so the low area shows up as numbers, and those numbers should line up with the cracks.
In east Wichita, where the ground is clay over shale, they will also ask what the yard does in a dry summer. The page on why foundations move in Wichita explains the difference between one side of town and the other.
What repair might involve
If the cause is a footing that has settled, a company may propose piers under that section to carry it down to firmer ground, sometimes with a lift that closes the crack part of the way. The brick or drywall is repaired afterwards, and that is usually a separate item in the proposal or a job for a mason. If the cause is something else on the list above, piers would not help, which is why the cause comes first. The methods guide describes each kind of pier.
Questions people ask
Should I fill a wall crack before anyone looks at it?
Leave it as it is until it has been seen and photographed. A filled crack hides its width and whether it has been opening or closing. If rain is getting in through brick, a strip of removable sealing tape is enough for a few weeks.
Do cracks that open in summer and close in winter matter?
Tell the company about them. Movement that follows the seasons often points to clay soil drying and wetting under a shallow part of the footing, and the pattern over a year is useful evidence. Dated photos with a coin or ruler in the frame are ideal.
Ready to have it looked at?
Talk to a foundation repair company near Wichita
Call and describe what you are seeing. You will speak with an independent local company that can arrange to inspect the house and give you its findings and its price.
Foundation repair for houses
Basement walls, settling, cracks, crawl spaces and sloping floors in Wichita and nearby towns.
Call (316) 555-0119Calls may be recorded. See the referral disclosure and privacy policy.