How To Evaluate Your Bedroom Wall For Repairs

Living in Florida, we are challenged by Hurricanes, Tropical Storms, Tornadoes, flooding, you name it. These forces of nature can cause damages to your home. I have had this happen to me. I know first hand how to fix many things because I have experienced the damages that we will touch in this post. So, if you are seeing some cracks on your walls, there is no need to panic. So long as the wall is sound, and you cannot see your neighbor’s yard through a hole in your wall, we can fix it. Minor damages can have no significance at all, and many of the repairs can be fixed by someone with very little no how. However, there are some damages that will either need an insurance claim, and or professional help. We are not talking about this here. This help is for that minor damage that we can fix ourselves, and the insurance deductible won’t cover this. Besides many people who have paid off their homes, no longer carry homeowner’s insurance.

First Of All Identify The Problem

Most often, cracked walls and or pieces of damaged sheet rock are given attention when a property is being sold in the market and when the condition is not livable. Even though the owner insists that the cracked wall has been like that for quite some time, that is not how you want to go into a contract with a buyer. In order to get top dollar, many of these small fixes can be done by the owner himself, or herself. Lowe’s is one of the department stores for the handy that has a few seminars monthly and shops to help people with do it yourself projects.

Whether you are a buyer, seller, or some one who is simply concerned about their walls in the home, there are always some important points on evaluating your property and whether or not it needs repairs or not. Many times the foundation walls that are built using concrete blocks are predisposed and you will see some cracks that run through the solid concrete walls. I have one of these right as we speak. Many times new fresh paint will cover this crack until the paint dries and then the stress reappears. There is a quick way to fix this but you have to use a bonding agent. I usually purchase mine at The Home Depot. You could use some epoxy that is also used for concrete mix on floors. It is blue in color, and it usually bonds the crack with each respective piece of wall. After that simple primer and paint will make this stress crack disappear.

What Should Cause You To Be Alarmed

Many times Insurance companies will come buy homes that they insure and inspect the trees on the property and have you cut them at the very least from touching a roof. Additionally, the roots of large and moderate sized trees that are near your home can also cause you major wall and roof problems. That is why it is important to see the signs of horizontal cracks on mortar joints as soon as they are visible. These are usually caused by too much inward pressure against the homes block foundation.

Usually, walls can remain cracked for about a number of years without any noticeable cracking additions or inward bulging but preliminary inspections should be able to determine the strength of a wall both exterior and interior. The important thing to remember here is that the horizontal crack once found, will cause your wall’s structural integrity to be reduced.

There Are Some Solutions As Well As Choices

Don’t stress this, because problems like these are possible to be permanently repaired and with the cost of the repair being minimal. Additionally, there are ways to fix this which will not have to have a complete wall replacement. But the inward movement cannot exceed one inch in relation to the bottom of the wall, if it does then there may not be a way to save your wall. One method you can do is brace the wall with reinforced block piers or steel post-braces, you can find these at Lowe’s and the Home depot as well, similar in pricing. If you are concerned with the cost, I know from experience that the steel post-braces are less expensive than the alternative methods. Look for more posts on do it yourself home repairs and other posts about homes. A good method for deciding whether or not to fix your home yourself or outsource the work, is to price the job yourself, then get a quote from some one who does this for a living. Sit back and evaluate the two. Then and only then can you make a more educated decision.