As the weather begins to cool down, you may notice a few problems cropping up around your home that you never see until winter. You may think it’s just the air or the temperature, but really it could be an underlying foundation issue. One instance of this is the occurrence of sticking doors and windows. In most cases of winter sticking doors and windows, they are due to what is called frost heave. Let’s learn a little bit more about this common winter foundation problem.
Frost Heave
What is it? Frost heave is when the soil around your foundation or under your deck gets saturated with water from the snow and ice. It then freezes and thaws based on the changing temperatures. As it does this, it pushes up as the water expands into ice and thaws back down as it melts. This can cause huge lifts and falls for your foundation, and that can cause cracks and worse.
You may notice this damage immediately in the form of cracks and uneven floors, and it can ultimately turn into bowing walls and unsafe conditions for your home. One place you may especially notice frost heave is under your deck. The deck may raise and lower a few inches each winter. This is probably due to the effects of frost heave.
Common Signs of Frost Heave
Find out if your home is experiencing the effects of frost heave by looking for these common signs:
- Uneven or sloping floors are caused by the foundation being pushed up in one area and staying put in the other.
- Sticking doors and windows- when the foundation is pushed upwards, it pushes against the door and window frames and causes fit problems.
- Cracks in the walls and foundation- your foundation and walls can’t handle the stress of such a big movement and end up cracking.
Frost Heave Solutions
While we can’t change how the soil moves, we can change how your home is affected by it. How is this possible? At KC Waterproofing and Foundation Repair, we use underpinning driven deep into the ground to assure that your home is stable and not affected by changes in the top levels of loosely compacted soil.
Without support in these areas, or if your home’s footer is not deep enough, you will continue to experience problems with the settlement, frost heave, or worse. Stabilizing your foundation will save you thousands in the long run. Some examples of underpinning may include push piers or helical piers.
Do You See Frost Heave? Call Us!
If you think that you are seeing the effects of frost heave in your home, call KC Waterproofing and Foundation Repair! We will perform a free estimate for the homeowner, and get your home back on the road to stability. Contact us today for more information and to get scheduled.
Visit our Ultimate Guide to Waterproofing Your Kansas City Home for more articles that will help you keep the basement of your Kansas City Metro area home dry and strong.
What Should You Look Out For?
One of the first signs of frost heave this winter will likely be your doors and windows sticking when they don’t stick at any other time of the year. You may also see cracks above door frames on the wall or above or below windows. This is all due to the frozen soil pushing against your foundation and raising it up. It causes damage to doors and windows by changing the way they fit in the frame.
The sticking doors and windows will not open and close properly because of this, but it’s not because something has changed about them. Rather because something has changed about your foundation. This is why it’s very important to have a professional, certified contractor perform a free estimate when you have issues like this around the home. They may be hard to spot to the untrained eye, but we see the smallest details that help us resolve the problem. 
Solutions for Sticking Doors
As in most cases of foundation repair, the actual sticking door will not be replaced because it is merely a symptom of the real issue. In the case of a frost heave, the footing needs to be deeper in the ground to truly support the home and not be affected by a frost heave. Depending on the situation, we would likely use pier systems such as push piers or helical piers (underpinning) to resolve the issue and give your home the stability it needs to withstand tough Kansas winters. However, each case is different and a free estimate from our team will give you the most accurate idea of what’s going on and how we can resolve it.
Sticking Doors? We Can Help!
At KC Waterproofing and Foundation Repair, we’re not just about waterproofing. We can also help with foundation repair! Contact us today to get yourself scheduled for a free estimate with our experts. We will fix your foundation problem for good!
