Expert Foundation Repair Services In Carmel, IN

Located a little north of Indianapolis, Carmel is a bustling town that serves as a suburb. There are several parks in town that include a water park or playground, making it a great town for families, while easily accessing all the big city amenities of Indianapolis.

As a suburb city, Carmel has a large population of more than 101,000 people living in more than 36,000 households. This is a growing area with new homes and neighborhoods popping up frequently.

As a homeowner in Carmel, you want your home to be in tip-top shape, but if you’re faced with foundation issues, you have questions. One of the questions we hear most often pertains to the foundation movement in Carmel.

Yes, Carmel homes do see some foundation movement. This most commonly occurs after the home is built. You may have heard this referred to as settling. The foundation of your Carmel home needs to settle into the soil.

We created this guide to foundation problems, causes, and other essential information to help you learn more about the problems you might be facing.

As one of your biggest assets and expenses, you expect your home to last a long time. If it’s one of the newer homes in Carmel, you may wonder what’s causing your foundation problems.

There are many perse reasons why you might need repairs to your foundation. Here are some causes that we typically see in Carmel homes:

Frost Heave

For much of the winter months in Carmel, the temperatures hover around freezing during the day and plummet after dark. When you experience prolonged periods of freezing temperature, the soil experiences a hard freeze, and the water in the soil freezes as well.

Frozen water in the soil can form the dirt upwards, creating frost heave. The soil can push up anywhere in the yard of your home in Carmel, and this includes under the foundation, causing it to buckle, crack, or crumble.

Since the damage from frost heave can occur anywhere under your home, it’s important to know the signs of possible damage to the foundation. It’s also essential to call us for a professional evaluation if you think that you have a problem.

Water Damage 

With an average of 42 inches of rain and an average of almost 23 inches of snow each year, Carmel sees a lot of water to saturate your soil. Water can quickly cause a lot of damage to anything that gets in its way.

Since the water doesn’t fall directly onto the foundation of your Carmel home, you might not see the problem. The issue comes with the weight of the water, and the pressure it places on your home’s foundation. This is called hydrostatic pressure. It can cause cracking, crumbling, and buckling to the foundation of your Carmel home.

Another water challenge for your home’s foundation comes from the gutters and downspouts attached to the roof. These systems help water flow freely off the roof of your Carmel home so that it doesn’t cause damage.

However, if the gutters and downspouts weren’t installed properly or become damaged due to storms, wildlife, or simple age, these systems can dump a lot of water on the ground beside your home’s foundation.

This standing water takes time to soak into the soil especially during a rainstorm. When pools of water sit beside your foundation for extended periods of time, it can cause erosion or begin to apply hydrostatic pressure.

Tree Roots

In Carmel, we see a persity of trees, and some of them grow into behemoths. The most common trees to find in your yard in Carmel include:

• White ash
• Quaking oak
• Paper birch
• Buckeye
• Red maple
• Sugar maple
• Black walnut

Trees need two things to grow big and strong, sunlight and water. With trees, they continue to grow as long as they live. In order to get water, the roots spread out far and wide.

These roots will go almost anywhere that they can wiggle under or over, and this includes any cracks or holes in the foundation of your Carmel home. Once they’re in the holes or cracks, the roots continue to push forward, providing enough pressure to damage your home’s foundation. Trees growing too close to your home can create many problems.

Substandard Builder

As a suburb and commuter city, Carmel seems to always have new homes and subpisions being built. Not all builders and contractors have the skills and knowledge to lay the foundation of a Carmel home properly despite strict building codes from the city and the state.

It might be that the contractor didn’t pour the depth correctly, or the foundation wasn’t leveled properly. Substandard work when creating a Carmel home’s foundation can cause many problems for the homeowners. You may need us to reinforce the foundation to keep your home safe and improve the foundation’s ability to bear the weight of your house and furnishings.

As a general rule, if it’s due to poor workmanship, the foundation of your home will start to show signs of damage fairly soon after you move in. If you suspect an issue, our team can evaluate your new home’s foundation and make a recommendation.

As you read, you may wonder how you’re going to know that there’s a problem with your foundation when so much of it isn’t visible. You can’t see cracks, holes, and buckles that are under your Carmel home.

If you have a problem with your foundation, you’ll begin to see signs around and in your Carmel house. The signs we see most commonly in Carmel include:

1. Leaning counters and cabinets – When the cabinets and counters were installed in your Carmel home, the workers spent time ensuring that they were flush to the wall in your kitchen and bathrooms. Sometimes, when you have a foundation problem, the first sign might be that the countertops or cabinet shelves seem to tilt downward. This is because they’re slowly separating from the wall. It might be that you only notice this issue in one room of your home because the problem is under that area.
2. Cracks in the walls or door frames -Your walls are made of a strong substance called drywall. It’s hung on the frame of your Carmel home in sheets and then painted over to give your house a completed look. Drywall is strong stuff, and there are very few reasons other than an issue with the foundation that could cause them to crack. Carmel doesn’t see many big earthquakes, so it’s always a good idea to get us to evaluate your home if cracks appear.
3. Standing water or puddles in your basement – Another possible sign of foundation damage includes standing water, flooding, and water puddles in your basement. Even on a rainy day, you should never see water in your basement. It’s usually a sign of foundation issues. However, it might be a problem with the plumbing in your Carmel home. After checking the pipes for leaks or bursts and finding nothing, it’s a good idea to call us for an evaluation on your home’s foundation.
4. Signs of damage you can see – It’s always a good idea to walk around your home at least once a month looking for any signs of damage. This can include the outer edges of your Carmel home’s foundation. During this inspection, you may notice cracks or holes in your foundation. These can be the result of hydrostatic pressure or something else.
5. Uneven floors – Like your counters and cabinets, a lot of work was put into creating the subfloor of your home and laying down the floor to ensure it was level. As you walk through your Carmel home, you might notice slopes on your floor. These shouldn’t be there and could be an indication of a problem with the foundation or subfloor.

When you spot any of these signs in your Carmel home, it’s essential that you ask us for an evaluation of your foundation.

When you need repairs to your foundation, you need to hire a structural engineer like ours. As a specialized field, structural engineering prepares the profession to understand and calculate the weight load that your home’s foundation can manage and how to affect repairs to get your home in tip-top shape.

For any size foundation repair, we always recommend that you hire our structural engineers to plan and oversee the project. Our professionals have the skills, training, and experience to ensure your home’s foundation in Parker stands up to the weight of your house.

Maybe you skipped ahead or have read all the information, however, this is the question you really want to be answered. Unfortunately, until we’ve evaluated the condition of your Carmel home’s foundation, we can’t tell you the precise cost of your repairs.

However, the cost of repairing a foundation in Carmel typically runs between $250 to $26,000 with an average of around $4,511. It’s important to keep in mind that the cost of repairing the foundation in your Carmel can be more or less. When you see the signs of foundation, you don’t want to dela

Does the Soil In Carmel Affect Your Foundation?

y repairs as this could drive the costs up.

Yes, the soil in Carmel might affect the foundation of your home. In this area of the state, most of the soil is clay-based soil. This means that the soil will quickly soak up the rain and snowmelt without being able to drain it as efficiently.

When you go through periods when you don’t see a lot of rain, this type of soil tends to dry out, shrinking in the process. The shrinkage can pull the support your Carmel home’s foundation needs away from it. Special reinforcements might be needed to solve this issue.