Your steps are vital for recognizing property deterioration and stability issues. Step damage is a warning indication you shouldn’t ignore. Cracking, sinking, and unevenness are symptoms of structural instability, changes, or pressures. As a result, you should consult a specialist, like Mount Valley Foundation Services, to evaluate why you’re experiencing unlevel steps.
What Causes Unlevel Steps
Saturated Soil
With the wet climate of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, your soil can become easily saturated with water, which can lead to a plethora of problems. When you have poor drainage options on your property or there is a heavy storm, this will cause the soil to swell as it absorbs huge amounts of water. Saturated soil can cause water to permeate into your home’s concrete structures, such as your sidewalk, driveway, pool deck, and more. Another possibility is that heavier structures, especially structures built on particularly damp soil, will begin to sink. This may have an influence on your property and any exterior concrete steps related to it.
Settling Foundation
If your foundation starts to settle, then your stairs will naturally begin to shift and crack. House settlement is expected and natural, so you will likely experience this problem at one point. If this is a natural occurrence causing the unevenness, the steps will stop shifting and stabilize at a particular point. They will also become cracked and will begin to pull away from your home, making them even more dangerous tripping hazards than if they were just uneven. Even affected stairs will remain stable in their unequal positions. As a result, they are relatively simple to repair.
Issues with Waterproofing
If your foundation is not properly waterproofed in the right areas, then this could end up affecting your home’s concrete stairs. Moisture and dampness are famously harmful in the home. If your basement or crawl space floods on a frequent basis, it will contribute to an increase in humidity, mold, mildew, and even wood damage. This could make your property’s steps uneven in a variety of ways. Damage to the flooring and timber joists that support them may impact interior staircases, whereas foundation difficulties are more likely to harm external or basement steps.
FAQs
Yes, uneven stairs can lead to injuries if someone tries to walk down them and takes a misstep. Steps that are uneven, unstable, or damaged are hazardous for a variety of reasons. They can be both a clue that more problems are on the way and actively detrimental to you and your family, as well as everyone who comes to visit you. Damaged steps that are tilted, unstable, or uneven are very dangerous for people to walk on, especially if they have existing mobility issues. This includes elderly people, small children, and people who have trouble moving around or seeing depth.
Lifting steps that aren’t level can be hard because of all the different reasons and problems that can happen at the same time. But there are different ways to do it, some of which are no longer used – such as mudjacking. Polyurethane foam injection is the most likely choice because of this. PolyRenewal™ is a minimally intrusive concrete lifting method that employs the same basic premise as mudjacking but in a far more advanced manner. The foam expands, pushing the concrete upward into its original position and holding it there.
If you’ve observed a tilt, slope, or unevenness in your steps, there are a number of factors that could be causing this harm. In most cases, the uneven stairs are caused by wider structural issues in your home. However, if the steps are outside, it could be an issue with soil saturation. The problem is most likely caused by the soil beneath the steps if they are outside of your property. Extremely expansive soils, such as clay, can become unstable over time. Their moisture content causes them to shrink and grow.
Explore Concrete Solutions
Thanks to PolyRenewal™, you can repair your home’s unlevel stairs by installing this innovative solution. It will make your stairs level, while also repairing any cracks or other foundation damage that may have occurred to the stairs. The ease and speed with which it can be installed is one of its numerous advantages.
Mount Valley Foundation Services
PolyRenewal™ Polyurethane Foam Injection
Cracking, sinking, uneven concrete slabs on your property are problems you shouldn’t have to live with. Mount Valley can help with an innovative concrete lifting solution. Learn more here!
Mount Valley Foundation Services
Sidewalk Lifting
Uneven and crumbling sidewalks are a safety hazard. Learn more about how concrete lifting can fix damaged and deteriorating sidewalks on your property.
Mount Valley Foundation Services
Driveway Lifting
Before your cracking, uneven driveway turns into a serious hazard, have it repaired with an innovative, long-lasting concrete lifting solution like Mount Valley’s polyurethane injections!
Mount Valley Foundation Services
Concrete Steps
Concrete steps are often subject to heavy wear and tear since they are constantly exposed to the elements. We’ve provided some insight regarding solutions that can aid you in repairing your concrete steps.
Call Us for A Free Inspection
At Mount Valley Foundation Services, we know that in Charleston, Columbia, and Savannah, homeowners deal with a lot of concrete problems. These areas have three different types of soil that can wreak havoc on concrete: silty clays, clays, and loams. If your home has unlevel exterior concrete steps, please call us. Our no-cost, no-obligation inspections can assist homeowners in determining whether or not there is a problem that requires attention. Contact us! You can trust our abilities because of Angi’s Super Service Award and Home Advisor’s Elite Service Award, among other accolades. We never abandon a project, so you can rest assured that your problem will be fixed correctly the first time.
