Foundation inspection and repairs Markham ON
If you’re based in Markham, Ontario or surrounding areas like Richmond Hill, Toronto, Aurora, Stouffville, GTA, on closer inspection, you might notice some cracks in your concrete foundation. Whether you should address it or not depends on its size and orientation. Masonry Markham are expert foundation repair specialists - we deal with all types of masonry units such as brick, stone and concrete. Concrete is a great cost-efficient, extremely durable material used in many construction projects, and is the choice for a building’s foundation.
If there are noticeable cracks, however, this can snowball into some irreversible damage such as structure instability, interior wall and floor damage and dangerous mould caused by water entering the basement. If the crack is small and/or horizontally oriented, this is not as urgent as if it were a large vertical crack. The former should still be sealed with a urethane or epoxy sealer to prevent water seepage, and therefore inhibiting damage of adjacent masonry units. The latter, however, means that there has been a vertical movement of the foundation, which severely compromises the structural integrity, making the foundation especially vulnerable to water penetration and damage. In this case, some specialists including an engineer may need to be involved to plan and design an underpinning, a process in which reinforcements are installed beneath existing footings to strengthen the structure. |
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At Masonry Markham, you can call us to come assess your damage to see what steps need to be taken to repair the foundation. You can also call us to apply proven techniques to reduce the occurrence and risk of serious foundation damage. The main goal is to prevent moisture from entering, so in some cases, we need to apply parging or re-parging to create a smooth water- and weather-resistant surface to the lower surface of a building’s wall. Waterproofing sealers can also be added for extra protection. Our foundation contractors employ a skilled technique to ensure the parged surface is smooth and covers the necessary surfaces to prevent unnecessary leakage.
Sometimes, the damage you see from concrete foundations isn’t as simple or singular as a crack. You may notice things like cracking, crumbling and peeling, all of which are indicators that the natural water defense of the foundation may be compromised. If you see concrete, stone or gravel aggregates on the ground below a crumbling concrete structure, this is a warning call to address the issue immediately. The natural course of this damage is that water will enter, turn the concrete into sand, and eventually eat its way through to the below grade foundation, which is very costly to repair.
Our masonry contractors at Masonry Markham have an eye for the type of damage that needs to be repaired, as well as some assessment tools to confirm our diagnosis. We will perform a thorough analysis of the structure and recommend the best solution or to the problem. Our goal is to apply preventative solutions first, and if that’s not possible, we provide repair solutions to salvage the foundation so that you won’t have to worry about damage to your above or below grade foundational structures.
Sometimes, the damage you see from concrete foundations isn’t as simple or singular as a crack. You may notice things like cracking, crumbling and peeling, all of which are indicators that the natural water defense of the foundation may be compromised. If you see concrete, stone or gravel aggregates on the ground below a crumbling concrete structure, this is a warning call to address the issue immediately. The natural course of this damage is that water will enter, turn the concrete into sand, and eventually eat its way through to the below grade foundation, which is very costly to repair.
Our masonry contractors at Masonry Markham have an eye for the type of damage that needs to be repaired, as well as some assessment tools to confirm our diagnosis. We will perform a thorough analysis of the structure and recommend the best solution or to the problem. Our goal is to apply preventative solutions first, and if that’s not possible, we provide repair solutions to salvage the foundation so that you won’t have to worry about damage to your above or below grade foundational structures.
