BRISBANE — Earthquakes are an ongoing concern for anyone who lives in the Bay Area. One way you can be proactive about protecting your home and family is to know the condition of your home’s foundation. If you understand the signs to look for, you can determine if measures are needed to bolster your home against earthquake damage.
Depending on when your home was built, the character (as well as the quality) of its foundation can vary. For example, many houses built in the 1920s and ’30s have foundations that were engineered using local materials, which isn’t good. Local sand contains impurities, which leads to degradation of the concrete. Also, builders in those days likely didn’t use enough Portland cement, as it was very expensive.
To assess the condition of your home’s foundation, perform this simple test: go down to your basement with a hammer or screwdriver and attempt to scrape off a piece of your foundation. If you’re successful, it’s a sign that the foundation’s integrity is compromised, in which case you should call a structural engineer.
Another thing to look for when assessing your home’s earthquake readiness is signs of foundation settlement, which can be caused by anything from poor soil compaction to drainage issues. In most cases, signs of foundation settlement can be found inside the home in the form of wall cracks, whether in corners or diagonally above doors and windows. Another common sign is a door or window that suddenly becomes difficult to open or close. If you start to notice these signs in your home, it might be time to get a professional assessment from a structural engineer.

Assessing Your Home's Foundation

Learn how to assess and ensure the stability of your home's foundation with expert tips and guidance.

Assessing Your Home's Foundation by Christopher Wells

by Christopher Wells, a Diamond Certified Expert Contributor

Video: Assessing Your Home's Foundation

to ensure earthquake safety you'll want
to know the condition of your home's
foundation and whether it needs to be
repaired or reinforced today we're in
Brisbane with diamond certified expert
contributor Christopher wells of
Christopher Wells construction to learn
more hi my tip is regarding concrete
foundations in the San Francisco and
north san mateo county area most of the
houses that I work on or in those areas
and they mostly have what we call
perimeter foundations as opposed to a
slab foundation houses that were built
in the early part of this of the
previous century like the 1920s and 30s
may have foundations where the Builder
used local materials which is not a good
thing if they use local sand it would
have impurities in it and that leads
towards degradation of the concrete they
also probably didn't use enough Portland
cement which was very expensive in those
days you can identify that if you go
down into your basement and take a
hammer or a screwdriver to your
foundation and try to try to scrape off
pieces of foundation if you're
successful that means you should
probably call an engineer and have him
look at the foundation because you may
near appare another problem that we
often see is differential settlement of
the foundations because in the old days
they didn't build foundations with as
large a footing as we use nowadays so
the foundation components will sort of
knife down through the ground what you
can do to look for that is keep an eye
on the interior of your house for
diagonal cracks in walls above doors and
windows and if you find that a door or a
window that has been functioning okay in
the past suddenly gets jammed shut or
open then you may have a settlement
problem and you should also call an
engineer for that to learn more from
local top-rated companies visit our
diamond certified expert reports at
experts Diamond Certified org

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