If you’re considering selling your home in the near future, or even just having it appraised so you’re aware of the value moving forward, your home inspection will be a vital element of this process. This is when a third party inspector comes to your home and assesses various areas that may need to be addressed or fixed before the home can be sold.
At Lift-Up Concrete, we can help with one area that’s commonly raised by home inspectors: Concrete issues. Our various residential concrete leveling and lifting services can assist you as you look to address all related concrete areas, from minor cracks to major voids or settling damage. Here are some of the primary concrete issues found by inspectors during home assessments, plus how to go about addressing these if they come up.
Pitch Problems
When we talk about pitch, we’re referring to the flatness or slope of your concrete. This is a primary concern for larger concrete areas like driveways and patios – during periods of moisture, incorrectly sloped pitch surfaces can lead water toward the home, where it may leak into the basement, foundation and other areas. Drainage is a big point of emphasis for inspectors, and they will absolutely notice this sort of thing.
Luckily, basic concrete raising services will allow you to achieve the pitch you need without replacing your entire slabs. This is a faster process as well, and one that doesn’t require major renovations.
Cracks and Potholes
Perhaps the most noticeable forms of concrete damage that an inspector may spot are cracks, potholes and various bumps found in the driveway of your home. Not only do these signal possible property damage issues, they’re physical hazards for both people and vehicles and could draw you a big demerit on your assessment. Similar issues may also take place in the garage, or in the section between the garage and the driveway. We can help with alignment and smoothing for all these areas at a low cost.
Step Height
After many years of foot traffic that have put more and more strain on concrete steps, they may experience similar sinking effects to other concrete areas. Once again, these are not only property value detractors, but direct safety hazards that will not look good on a property inspection.
In addition to basic visible sinking, inspectors will be looking for a standardized step height. Anything above 8.25 inches between steps will generally be regarded as a problem, so you should measure your steps and contact us about leveling them off if they don’t fit this qualification.
For more on the issues property inspectors will be looking for relative to your concrete, or to learn about how our concrete lifting and leveling services can help, speak to the pros at Lift-Up Concrete today.
