If you are a home owner and possess your concrete slabA� foundation inspected byA� a repair contractor, or even better, an independent professional structural engineer with foundation repair experience, maybe you are getting an elevation report produced by a couple of tools:
AA� Compu Level (or Ziplevel),A�or a manometer.A� When I had my foundationA� inspection done, the engineer used a Compu Level.A� I received an inspection report that detailed several variances in elevation in one end in the slab for the other. As an example, there was clearly a 2-3 inch drop a single corner from the house when compared to the center in the slab.
What do the numbers mean?
Good to know, I guess. But in practical terms, what do those numbers independently really inform you? Unless their website have a very benchmark of some sort to check the readings against, not really a good deal.A� Do I have the elevation readings from when the slab was initially built? No.
Do I know for sure that this foundation was exactly level in the event the house was initially built (over three decades ago?)A� No.A� So do variations in elevation today mean I have serious foundation movement?A� Not necessarily.A� I may have never stood a level foundation to start with.
So don't allow the groundwork repair company stop by, string their little tubes everywhere in the house, then try to sell a repair job based only on adjustments to elevation on your own slab.A� It just may well be a dog and pony show.
However should your house also shows well-known indications of foundation distress: windows and doors that do not enter and exit right, diagonal cracks within the walls (inside and outside), cracks near door frames and window frames, separations between walls and frames and such, then you certainly do have a reason to get worried.A� All of those signs point to a twisting in the framework inside the walls and might indeed be a result of foundation movement.
Don't be Mislead
Just do not let anyone show you that readings from your Compu Level, Ziplevel, or manometer include the only "evidence" that you'll require a high priced foundation repair job done on your own home.