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SAFE, DRY, & STABLE™

Here at TerraFirma we do a lot for people and their homes, and we’ve come up with a phrase that sums it all up: Safe, Dry, and Stable™. We will make your home safe, dry, and stable with our services. What does that mean? Let’s break it down by word.

SAFE

Your home should be safe. How can we help? We have services to cover:

Wood/Concrete Moisture Content

Earthquakes are a reality in the Pacific Northwest. We’ve got volcanoes along the Cascade Mountains and the Juan de Fuca plate off the coast. Both can generate small and huge quakes. What we do:

  • Retrofitting – If your home was built before 1993, it is likely not tied down to your foundation. When a medium or large quake happens, your home can slip right off the foundation. Our retrofitting brackets will stop or mitigate that damage.
  • Securing – Appliances like your water heater can just fall over during an earthquake and cause a flood. We secure them to the frame of the home to prevent this.
  • Insurance – If your home is not seismically ready, you won’t be able to buy earthquake insurance. Is that important? If an earthquake happens, a fire starts, and your home burns down, your fire insurance won’t cover it because it was caused by an earthquake.

Learn more about earthquake retrofitting.

Protect home earthquake 1 Safe

Earthquakes are a reality in the Pacific Northwest. We’ve got volcanoes along the Cascade Mountains and the Juan de Fuca plate off the coast. Both can generate small and huge quakes. What we do:

  • Retrofitting – If your home was built before 1993, it is likely not tied down to your foundation. When a medium or large quake happens, your home can slip right off the foundation. Our retrofitting brackets will stop or mitigate that damage.
  • Securing – Appliances like your water heater can just fall over during an earthquake and cause a flood. We secure them to the frame of the home to prevent this.
  • Insurance – If your home is not seismically ready, you won’t be able to buy earthquake insurance. Is that important? If an earthquake happens, a fire starts, and your home burns down, your fire insurance won’t cover it because it was caused by an earthquake.

Learn more about earthquake retrofitting.

Protect home earthquake 1 Safe

Means of Egress

That’s a fancy way of saying you need a way to get out of your basement. We can install egress windows or doors on your basement. Some insurances require this; a lot of building codes require this if you want to declare your basement a “living space.” If you are remodeling your basement, your permits could be denied because you don’t have a means of egress as part of your plan.

Learn more about the means of egress that we can install.

Tripping Hazards

cracked sidewalk uneven small Safe

Concrete settles and cracks, it’s what it does. It becomes a problem when cement slabs become so uneven the lip is a tripping hazard. If someone trips on your property you can be sued for negligence.

You know that sidewalk in front of your home owned by the city? You’re responsible for that too. Yup, it’s your responsibility to monitor your civil surroundings for hazards and if you don’t do something about it, according to the law: you are being negligent. So, someone can trip on the sidewalk outside your home and sue you.

We can fix most trip hazards around your home. Learn more about concrete repair.

Concrete settles and cracks; it’s what it does. It becomes a problem when cement slabs become so uneven that the lip is a tripping hazard. If someone trips on your property, you can be sued for negligence.

You know that sidewalk in front of your home owned by the city? You’re responsible for that, too. Yup, it’s your responsibility to monitor your civil surroundings for hazards, and if you don’t do something about it, according to the law, you are being negligent. So, someone can trip on the sidewalk outside your home and sue you.

We can fix most trip hazards around your home. Learn more about concrete repair.

cracked sidewalk uneven small Safe

Organic Growth/Stack Effect

Your house is not perfectly sealed. Air can move in and out of it. Warmer air tends to rise and leak out the top, meaning it gets sucked in at the bottom. The air under your home will slowly move up through your house. It sounds nice if it’s cool down there, less so if it’s damp, moldy, or just smells bad. You don’t want bad air moving through your home.

We can encapsulate your crawl space and stop that bad air movement altogether. Learn more about crawl space encapsulation.

DRY

Water is powerful, sneaky stuff. If left alone, it can move mountains. If there’s a way in, water will find it.

Wood/Concrete Moisture Content

The 7 Worst Problems to Have in Your Basement 1 Safe

Wood weakens when wet. Wet wood is also the best place for mold, bacteria, and fungus. Concrete is porous and water can slowly seep through. If your wood or concrete stays wet long enough, you’ll have a real problem on your hands.

Water will get to your home, it’s inevitable, but TerraFirma can set up drainage systems to pull the water away from your concrete and wood. Learn more about waterproofing under your home.

Wood weakens when wet. Wet wood is also the best place for mold, bacteria, and fungus. Concrete is porous and water can slowly seep through. If your wood or concrete stays wet long enough, you’ll have a real problem on your hands.

Water will get to your home, it’s inevitable, but TerraFirma can set up drainage systems to pull the water away from your concrete and wood. Learn more about waterproofing under your home.

The 7 Worst Problems to Have in Your Basement 1 1 Safe

Relative Humidity

Even if you don’t see water, high humidity can cause the same problems. There might not be any leak to plug or water to drain, it’s just humid. We can fix that too. With encapsulation and dehumidification your home will be drier.

Learn more about dehumidifiers and encapsulation.

Efflorescence/Rot

If a lot of water is seeping through your concrete, you will see it on the surface. The salts in the cement and soil will deposit on the surface as a white powder when the water evaporates. This is efflorescence. It’s a sign of water getting through the concrete.

Water seeping through wood promotes the growth of fungus. Fungus’ job is to break down organic matter and that process is what you know as rotting.

Get the water out. Learn more about waterproofing.

Efflorescence water damage basement Safe

If a lot of water is seeping through your concrete, you will see it on the surface. The salts in the cement and soil will deposit on the surface as a white powder when the water evaporates. This is efflorescence. It’s a sign of water getting through the concrete.

Water seeping through wood promotes the growth of fungus. Fungus’ job is to break down organic matter and that process is what you know as rotting.

Get the water out. Learn more about waterproofing.

Efflorescence water damage basement Safe

Standing Water

Standing water means you don’t have adequate drainage. And after the previous sections we probably don’t need to explain why this is bad.

Waterproofing is a big part of what we do, but it’s not actually waterproofing. It’s getting the water out. We have many systems for moving water and they vary based on what you’ve got under your home. Learn more about basement waterproofing.

STABLE

Homes shift over time with the dirt they are on. This can be ok if the movement is uniform, but usually it’s not.

Elevations

Foundation Repair Photo Album Foundation Stabilization Medford Or 5 Safe

When they built your home, they dug out all the compacted soil, put some loose soil back in to level it, built your foundation, and filled the rest in with loose soil. The dirt is going to move, and your home will get out of square. Your windows & doors are going to stick, your walls will crack, and your floors will be uneven.

We can slow this settling significantly with piers to support your home and in many cases, we can get some lift to make your home more square. Learn more about stabilization.

When they built your home, they dug out all the compacted soil, put some loose soil back in to level it, built your foundation, and filled the rest in with loose soil. The dirt is going to move, and your home will get out of square. Your windows & doors are going to stick, your walls will crack, and your floors will be uneven.

We can slow this settling significantly with piers to support your home and in many cases, we can get some lift to make your home more square. Learn more about stabilization.

Foundation Repair Photo Album Foundation Stabilization Medford Or 5 Safe

Post Connections/Internal Support

Your foundation is not just the concrete around the outside. There’s also posts in the middle supporting point-loads. The settling of your foundation can cause gaps between the posts and the beams they support. When a post rots you lose all support from that post.

We can replace your support posts with better, stronger posts. Learn more about support posts.

Cracks

We’ve said it before, concrete cracks, but why? Concrete is great at holding up something heavy on top of it, but it’s bad at being a beam. That’s why we don’t use it for floor joists. Things that can cause cracks:

  • Voids – Empty spaces under the concrete. Water erodes dirt creating voids and spaces. The slab must span the width of a void like a beam. Then it cracks. The crack lets in more water, and it makes for bigger voids beneath the slab, causing more cracks.
  • Settling – When your foundation settles one side settles faster than the other trying to bend the concrete. Concrete doesn’t bend, so it cracks.
  • Ice – Small cracks let in water which can freeze, making the crack bigger as the water expands.
  • Frost Heave – If the soil is wet and freezes, this expansion will try to bend the concrete.
  • Pressure – When soil gets wet, it expands. When it dries out, it contracts. All that movement can cause retaining walls and basement walls to crack.
  • Street Creep – As streets heat up and cool, they expand and contract. This pressure on your driveway can cause it to buckle and crack.

We have solutions for all the issues above. We fill the spaces, help water drain, and stabilize movement with piers. Learn more about concrete repair.

Chimney & Decks

You think your house is the only thing that can settle? Your chimney is super heavy so it can settle faster than your foundation, and it almost always pulls away from the house when it does. Let’s stabilize it with piers.

Decks are lighter, but they can still settle. Sometimes it’s faster than your house because the contractor filled in a bunch of loose soil before building it. We can stabilize the piers on your deck.

Learn more about piers.

tilting chimney small Safe

You think your house is the only thing that can settle? Your chimney is super heavy so it can settle faster than your foundation, and it almost always pulls away from the house when it does. Let’s stabilize it with piers.

Decks are lighter, but they can still settle. Sometimes it’s faster than your house because the contractor filled in a bunch of loose soil before building it. We can stabilize the piers on your deck.

Learn more about piers.

tilting chimney small Safe

Safe, Dry, and Stable™

That’s it. We want to make your home safe, dry, and stable™, so if you think your home is shifting, wet, or unsafe give us a call. We’ll come out and give you a free safe, dry, stable assessment.