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Oklahoma drought puts your home's foundation at risk

One of the victims of this extreme Oklahoma drought could be your home.

David Edens of Edens Structural Solutions in Broken Arrow says the drought means he's getting a lot of foundation repair business.

Dried out clay soil shifts and settles, taking your home's foundation with it.

And, Edens says, before you know it you'll be "seeing doors that are sticking, cracks above windows and doors, windows that are not operational."

Edens says keeping the ground around your home moist now could save you thousands of dollars in the near future.

""Just a soaker hose laid upon the foundation, turned on every couple of  days for an hour, hour-and-a-half per side, will help minimize your foundation failure."

If you spot the ground pulling away from the edges of your house, your foundation is in trouble.

And, if you see cracks in walls or your interior doors start to stick, chances are you already have damage...damage that will only get worse and more expensive to fix over time.

The Residential Energy Services Network says the top 10 signs of foundation problems are:

  1. Uneven or sloping floors
  2. Cracks in exterior or interior brick
  3. Displaced or cracked moldings
  4. Wall rotation
  5. Cracks in walls or bowing of walls
  6. Cracks in floor, tiles, or foundation
  7. Doors and windows won't open or close properly
  8. Separation of doors, windows, and garage doors
  9. Spaces between wall and ceiling, or floor
  10. Walls separating from house

If you spot cracks in your foundation, there's no need to panic; what's important is the nature of the cracks, because all foundations have few.

Hairline cracks, for example, are nothing to worry about; these are probably due to concrete shrinkage.

Small cracks (1/16 inch wide) can be easily addressed by painting over with waterproof concrete paint – just make sure you check to make sure the paint hasn’t cracked.

However, stair step cracks in masonry joints, a bulging wall or a crack bigger than ¼ inch are more problematic and may indicate moisture problems.

The most most serious types of cracks are horizontal ones, which could mean that water-saturated soil from outside has frozen, expanded and broken into the foundation.

A worst-case scenario could mean having to get a new foundation.

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