Seeing a crack in your wall is not a pleasant sight. Apart from ruining an otherwise pristine stretch of carefully painted drywall, it makes you wonder whether any other part of the house sports such ugly imperfections.

More than aesthetic flaws, you should be thinking about what those cracks mean concerning your house’s structural integrity. Wall cracks can mean plenty of things, and knowing what the cause might be will potentially save you a lot of trouble. It doesn’t help that Indiana has recently experienced a spate of severe rainfall, raising more suspicion that the cracks might be signs of water damage.

We can classify cracks into two types based on how serious the underlying problem is: structural and non-structural cracks.

The Non-Structural Variant

In the worst case scenario, non-structural cracks mean water has seeped in somewhere in your basement, which is easily repairable. These cracks can be seen nearly anywhere in a foundation wall, but most likely coming from openings like windows and doors.

The soil on the outside exerts lateral pressure on the foundation, causing thin cracks where water can seep through when the soil saturates.

The Structural Crack

These types of cracks indicate a more serious problem in the house’s foundation. Desiccating soil likely causes the foundation to sink, exerting pressure that’s severe enough for the walls to crack. These structural breaks typically have patterns, usually running up at an angle from the wall’s bottom corners and another vertical one appearing in the center. These cracks are wider in appearance.

If this accurately describes the crack on your wall, it’ll need the best foundation repair services in Indianapolis to preserve your house’s structural integrity.

Of course, eyeballing all the cracks in your house isn’t meant to make you an expert in repairing them yourself. If you do see problems that you think threaten your home on a structural level, we’ll be more than happy to provide you with our expertise and services in foundation repair.