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Preventive Maintenance for Long-term Home Foundation Health

To lower the likelihood of equipment failure and unscheduled machine downtime in Home Foundation Health, preventive maintenance is regularly and routinely carried out in your houses. Effective preventive maintenance is planned and scheduled utilizing real-time data insights, frequently with the aid of software like a CMMS or manually, depending on the techniques present in Texas, and Houston.

To avoid unplanned breakdowns, a preventative maintenance procedure is carried out while the equipment is still functional. An approach that falls between reactive maintenance also known as run-to-failure and predictive maintenance is called preventative maintenance.

Preventive maintenance techniques

Preventive maintenance comes in a variety of forms. To avoid unexpected failure, it is essential to schedule and carry out some variant of these forms of preventative maintenance on every part of your home foundation. Examples of each kind of preventive maintenance are shown below.

A preventative maintenance task is scheduled using a time-based strategy using a predetermined period, such as every 10 days. Activating preventive maintenance, such as a routine check of essential equipment on the first of every month or once every three months are some common examples. Moreover, others include:

  • Utilization-based maintenance (UBM): When a home’s utilization reaches a predetermined benchmark, usage-based preventive maintenance initiates a maintenance action. After a specific amount of miles, hours, or production cycles, for example. A vehicle’s routine maintenance being planned every 10,000 kilometers is an illustration of this trigger.
  • Condition-based maintenance (CBM): CBM is a proactive maintenance technique. It’s a technique for maintaining your house that keeps the foundations in their real state to identify what maintenance chores need to be carried out in a home foundation. According to condition-based maintenance, maintenance should only be carried out when certain indicators indicate a decline in performance or impending failure. Preventive maintenance, for instance, will be planned when vibration on a particular component hits a predetermined level, signaling that it needs to be replaced or oiled.
  • Predictive maintenance (PdM): Tracks the functionality and state of equipment using condition-monitoring technologies and methodologies. When specified parameters or thresholds are crossed, maintenance is then carried out. Examples include checking for thermal hotspots in electrical systems or monitoring vibration in bearings.

What situations call for preventive maintenance?

Depending on the equipment and the operation it is performing, you should utilize preventive maintenance at different times. To help develop preventive maintenance schedules and inspections so that houses do not run to failure, you can refer to the manufacturer’s guidelines given by a homeowner.

Checklist for Foundation Maintenance

Saving time and money, avoiding emergency services, prioritizing scheduling for foundation maintenance appointments, protecting your investment, and hassle-free work are all benefits that come with foundation maintenance.

Maintaining It Regularly for Long-Term Dependability

  • Your home’s foundation and its systems, like those in your car, require routine maintenance to keep them operating at peak efficiency. 
  • Long-term warranties are included with Foundation MD’s permanent repair solutions, but regular maintenance is still required to prevent emergencies and to increase the lifespan of your mechanical goods, such as a dehumidifier or sump pump. 
  • With the Foundation MD annual service plan, our service professionals will thoroughly assess the work we did, clean all necessary components, and make any modifications or repairs required to keep your system operating at top efficiency. Furthermore, priority scheduling will be given to you for any additional maintenance, service, or new installation appointments, saving you time and hassle at the busiest times of the year. 
  • Your system will be thoroughly inspected, any parts that need to be cleaned or changed will be replaced, and our service professionals will provide you with recommendations for subsequent maintenance in addition to a detailed report of the work they did. Our professionals can install any further work that is necessary straight away, saving you time off work and eliminating any future appointments. 
  • Preventative maintenance lowers the likelihood that you will need emergency service, but if something does go wrong your priority scheduling status ensures that we will take care of it right away. 

The Advantages of Adhering to the Foundation Maintenance Checklist

The foundations of our homes endure a lot, from spring and summer rains to heavy winter snowfall. We’ve put together a thorough maintenance checklist for homeowners to make sure your foundation stays in great shape. 

Building Checklist

  • Checklist for Piering Foundations
  • Verify stabilization benchmarks. 
  • Examine & assess the structural integrity of the foundation.

Checklist for Stabilising Walls

  • Benchmark Walls 
  • Inspect & Assess Foundation Structural Integrity 
  • Tighten Wall Anchors to ensure the walls are stable
  • Re-Seal Plates if Needed 
  • Remove Extra Wall, Anchor Rod 

Checklist for Basement Waterproofing

  • Clean the sump pump. 
  • Replace the check valve.
  • Test the operation of the sump pump. 
  • Test the perimeter drainage system. 
  • Replace the batteries in the alarm. 
  • Inspect the discharge line. 
  • Evaluate the basement. 
  • Inspect the dehumidifier. 
  • Change the filter. 

Crawl Space Encapsulation Checklist

  • Inspect Liner, Seals, and Seams; 
  • Check Humidity Levels; 
  • Clean the Sump Pump; 
  • Replace the Sump Pump Check Valve; 
  • Test the Function of the Sump Pump; 
  • Replace the Alarm Batteries; 
  • Inspect the Dehumidifier
  • Change the Filter 

How to Keep Your Foundation Strong

There are several ways to keep your home foundation strong and stable. Some of the most common ways include the following:

Trim any shrubbery that is near the foundation.

Make sure that any bushes or other vegetation you have planted stays modest and short, ideally no longer than 3 feet if it is situated close to the foundation of your home. Tall plants need a lot of water to remain healthy, therefore placing so much water close to the foundation could eventually cause harm. To protect home foundations, plant shrubs and bushes about 3 feet away from the structure and keep them trimmed by getting the trimmings regularly.

Patch up little foundation cracks

You should contact us to have any small foundation fractures repaired. The cracks must first be carefully cleaned, allowed to dry, and then fixed with either an epoxy glue or a concrete repair mixture. Watch for visible cracks to make sure they don’t get worse over time. You must call a professional and not try to fill any significant holes yourself if you see them. Many homeowners have made the mistake of attempting to DIY their foundation repair only to discover it produced a much worse and MUCH more expensive problem. Large cracks may suggest bigger problems that need serious repair.

Maintain Consistent Moisture Levels Near Your Foundation

It’s crucial to maintain a constant moisture level around your foundation since a damp or dry foundation might become damaged or weak. Installing hoses or soakers to moisten the foundation is a good idea if you live somewhere where the summers are exceptionally dry. Make sure the earth is graded so that water will flow away from the foundation if you live somewhere that is moist (or has a wet season). Also, remember to check your downspouts! It is a concern if water is accumulating after a lot of rain. To keep your home in top condition, call us to examine any damage and install downspout extensions.

Check for leaks in underground water sources

Pools, sprinkler systems, and other fixtures around a home may all need underground water. These systems can leak, which then causes wet and ruined foundations. Call a plumber or a home foundation repair service provider to inspect the subsurface system timely to make sure it is in good condition.  These service providers will also check for any leaks to occur and repair them before heavy damage is caused. 

Conduct consistent foundation inspection

It is vital to get the inspection done at least twice a year. If you notice any sort of crack in the foundation or the leak make sure you call the service providers before they turn into collapsing walls, big cracks, and other problems related to roofs, doors, and window frames.

 If you see any of these indications, there is a high chance that the foundation might be harmed, call a professional to look into the issue further. You may be able to perform the proper repairs if you discover a problem before it gets out of hand, avoiding the need for a complete replacement of the foundation.

It is vital to pay attention to your home’s foundation if you want to maintain it solid and secure. Moreover, you can ensure that the foundation of your home remains sound for many years by doing some straightforward maintenance tasks and keeping an eye on its condition.

If you are still confused about the maintenance of your home repair foundation, call Foundation MD and let us sort out all your issues. Book an appointment now!