If you’re looking to build a home that will stand the test of time, investing in your foundation is the ideal way to go about things. As a matter of fact, you should be putting around 8% of your home’s total budget into the foundation alone. Some estimates even put this percentage as high as 15%, to truly ensure that the quality of your foundation is as high as it can possibly be.
Of course, choosing the right kind of foundation is something that will certainly have a large impact as well. After all, choosing a slab foundation instead of a basement foundation or a crawlspace foundation (the three most popular types of foundation seen throughout the United States) can end up in disaster – or at least a great deal of money spent in repairs. Researching these foundation types and then picking the one that best suits your property in the part of the country that you live in will give you the best possible end result, something that is hugely important to keep in mind, to say the very least.
If you choose to get a basement foundation, there are many ways in which you will benefit. For one thing, basements can provide the necessary shelter for those who are living in parts of the country where tornadoes are possible – and sometimes even frequent, depending on the time of the year. In addition to this, the extra space that a basement affords is hugely useful to families across the country as well. From storage space to living space, a basement can be molded to fit many different desires. As a matter of fact, some even find that their basement makes a perfect separate apartment, where they can host a tenant and bring in some additional income, something that is certainly beneficial to many who are trying to make ends meet with the resources that they have.
But when you have a basement foundation, investing in something like basement waterproofing services is likely to be hugely important, with an average return on investment of very nearly one third (of around 30%, to be just a bit more exact on the subject). After all, more than 98% of all basements will experience some level of flooding at some point in time if basement waterproofing is not performed. Because of this, more than 35% of all home owners found throughout the United States have lost possessions, sometimes very important ones, to basement flooding and water damage.
But repairing this basement damage and foundation damage as soon as it occurs will be very important indeed when it comes to preventing the damage from spreading and worsening. As a matter of fact, the same guidelines for foundation repair hold true for other types of foundation damage as well, including foundation termite damage. Foundation termite damage repair is likely more commonplace than you even realize, as termites can be found in much of this country. Fortunately, foundation termite damage repair is quite effective at reducing this risk, so long as foundation termite damage repair is able to take place relatively quickly after the problem is first noticed. When such is the case, foundation termite damage repair is likely to be all the more effective, especially from the standpoint of cost (which is important to note for just about every home owner out there).
At the end of day, however, it’s not just about hiring foundation repair contractors to conduct things like foundation termite damage repair, as important as foundation termite damage repair is when it is needed. However, preventative measures will certainly save the average home owner the most amount of money. Fortunately, there are a number of different steps that the average home owner will be able to take to reduce the overall risk of damage to their foundation.
For instance, keeping gutters from directing water too closely to the foundation will go a long way in protecting the foundation throughout the years. Ideally, water will be diverted at least 10 feet away from the foundation in question. In addition to this, regular gutter cleanings will also be hugely effective in reducing the overall risk that is posed not just to the foundation, but to the home.
