Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / 03/19/2025 Ask the Expert with Foster Foundation Repair

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03/19/2025 Ask the Expert with Foster Foundation Repair · WCHS Network Podcasts

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Speaker 1: Unlock your dream property with Meeks Realty Group, where Rich
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Speaker 1: the realtor makes real estate dreams a reality, whether it's
0:05
Speaker 1: residential or commercial. We've got Charleston to Huntington covered. Your
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Speaker 1: key to exceptional real estate experience is start here Meeks
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Speaker 1: Realty Group. Contact us at Meeks dot us.
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Speaker 2: The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
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Speaker 2: necessarily reflect the views and opinions of five ad w
0:21
Speaker 2: CCHS it's employees or WVRC Media.
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Speaker 3: Ander Budding good one too. You're listening to ask the
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Speaker 3: expert of you c HS, the Voice of Charleston. Thanks
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Speaker 3: for tuning in very much on this Wednesday morning, and man,
0:41
Speaker 3: it is a courteousness and absolute beautiful morning out enjoy it.
0:45
Speaker 4: Today.
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Speaker 3: It is going to be uh, we're going to get
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Speaker 3: a little cloud and it's going to be cooler tomorrows.
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Speaker 3: Some brains want to come in. It's okay, it's still
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Speaker 3: it's still. It's still early March. Well, I guess mid
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Speaker 3: March now, and we might need a little bit of
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Speaker 3: that moisture because we do have red flag warning days
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Speaker 3: here in the valley, so that means it is potential
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Speaker 3: for forest fires. So you want to be careful of
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Speaker 3: that in the area you're listening to ask the expert
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Speaker 3: this morning, like to welcome back to the studio after
1:09
Speaker 3: a little bit of a time away, to let us
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Speaker 3: marryon eate and our juices and talk about some foundation repairs.
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Speaker 3: Bred hoston the owner of Foster Foundation Repair. How you
1:17
Speaker 3: doing this morning, brut not.
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Speaker 5: Doing very good. The weather sure is nice out there today.
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Speaker 3: Man, I tell you what, I am a huge fan
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Speaker 3: of this time of year when we start getting right
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Speaker 3: before the real hot weather starts coming in, you know,
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Speaker 3: and we get this nice springtime weather.
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Speaker 4: I'm a big fan of that.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, I was giving my guys a little grief this morning,
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Speaker 6: saying they're going to be complaining about being hot this
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Speaker 6: afternoon and complain about being cold tomorrow.
1:41
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, because it is definitely gonna be a little
1:42
Speaker 3: bit different than that. We had a lot of stuff
1:44
Speaker 3: that we could talk about this morning. If you've obviously,
1:47
Speaker 3: if you've been anywhere in wetch Virginia for the last
1:49
Speaker 3: year so our weather has been absolutely crazy here. We've
1:52
Speaker 3: had temperatures down into the single digits near zero. We
1:56
Speaker 3: had terrible windstorms, we had tons of rain that came
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Speaker 3: in flooded a lot of areas and then it dried
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Speaker 3: right up and now we're in a in a in
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Speaker 3: a fire warning. What all of that means, not only
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Speaker 3: does it effect your drive into work every morning, and
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Speaker 3: it affects other things about your house, like you're roofing
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Speaker 3: different things like that that uh that uh giving and taking. Man,
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Speaker 3: your house is a breathing instrument. Man, it's a living thing.
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Speaker 3: That means that all this different weather, all these different things,
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Speaker 3: that's putting pressures on on your foundation.
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Speaker 5: Yes, it really is.
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Speaker 6: And you know, even going a little further back into
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Speaker 6: last year, the last summer and fall, we went through.
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Speaker 5: An extreme drought.
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Speaker 6: So what I what I've witnessed over the last six
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Speaker 6: to eight months is some of the most extreme conditions.
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Speaker 5: And it's it's all related to the weather.
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Speaker 6: But but as it relates to houses in the soil conditions,
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Speaker 6: we see the drought brought on a lot of very
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Speaker 6: dry ground of course, and and I'm sure a lot
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Speaker 6: of people saw large cracks in the earth, which is
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Speaker 6: all a result of uh soil shrinkage. We have expansive
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Speaker 6: clay soils around here, and so we we we saw
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Speaker 6: a lot of settlement this summer and fall even leading
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Speaker 6: into the winter, concerns about settlement cracks and then and
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Speaker 6: then yeah, we went right into the winter, we got
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Speaker 6: that huge snow and ice. Uh and and we we
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Speaker 6: did the undred one hundred and eighty degree flip and
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Speaker 6: went from extreme drought to extreme saturation. And I've seen,
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Speaker 6: you know, there's some things I've seen that had I
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Speaker 6: not witnessed them in firsthand, with how much a house
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Speaker 6: will move, I wouldn't believed somebody if they just told me.
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Speaker 6: But it has been extreme, very extreme these past few
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Speaker 6: few months. And yeah, we are drying out right now,
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Speaker 6: but you know, soil, soil is still relatively damp. If
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Speaker 6: you dig down, it's not bone dry.
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Speaker 5: I know the surface is wet, is dry, but uh, it's.
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Speaker 6: Certainly the weather does certainly affect what our our our
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Speaker 6: industry very dramatically.
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Speaker 3: I know that when I lived in Michigan, I lived
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Speaker 3: there for years, and one of the everywhere you live,
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Speaker 3: there's different themes on the way building's done and stuff
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Speaker 3: like that. It's just been different codes. You know, became
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Speaker 3: a state at a different time. You know, it just
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Speaker 3: depends on how long it's been around and things like that.
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Speaker 3: The thing that's kind of unique about West Virgingiat to
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Speaker 3: some degree is that so many of our homes are
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Speaker 3: built on basements. You know, there's you have full basements
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Speaker 3: here a lot of times, a lot of unfinished basements,
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Speaker 3: different things along those lines. And again older homes with basements.
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Speaker 3: These are things that you have to be aware of.
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Speaker 3: I have one of those myself, so I speak from experience.
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Speaker 3: You have to be aware of those. You have to
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Speaker 3: you know, walk around see if there's any leaks. I
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Speaker 3: had a little leak that over the winter that came
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Speaker 3: in from one of my my basement windows. But I
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Speaker 3: noticed it, just a little trickle and then it came
4:37
Speaker 3: down on the floor and then it drained into the
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Speaker 3: drain in the middle of the thing. It was just
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Speaker 3: a little tiny but it's like that's a leak.
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Speaker 4: You know. You got to be careful for those things.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, and you mentioned that, you know there are
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Speaker 6: our homes, a lot of them in the Charleston Aario
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Speaker 6: were built fifties to seventies, and the techniques utilized during
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Speaker 6: those times were are not the We're not the greatest practice.
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Speaker 6: A lot we have a lot of unre forced concrete
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Speaker 6: masonry unit basements. Uh, so they don't have any rebar
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Speaker 6: or concrete in them.
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Speaker 3: You mean, so they just dug out a hole and
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Speaker 3: then put and put concrete down there, built concrete around it.
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Speaker 3: They didn't fortify around the walls or anything else for
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Speaker 3: the most part.
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Speaker 6: So they dig a whole poor concrete footer and then
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Speaker 6: build block you know, cinder blocks. A lot of people
5:19
Speaker 6: call the cinder blocks. They're actually concrete masonry units. But
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Speaker 6: they would build up with those concrete blocks and their
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Speaker 6: highow unreinforced block today where we would uh, we would
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Speaker 6: insert rebar and concrete into those hollow cells to give
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Speaker 6: it some well, to give it reinforcement. And the vast
5:36
Speaker 6: majority of homes in this region were not constructed that way.
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Speaker 6: You'll you'll periodically run into a poor concrete wall, but
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Speaker 6: it's they're few and far between. And the you know
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Speaker 6: the South Hills area, I mean, that's where a lot
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Speaker 6: of our businesses is South South Hills, South Charleston Fort Hill,
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Speaker 6: And that's when there was a big boom in the
5:54
Speaker 6: area and and a lot of these houses were not built.
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Speaker 6: You know, two modern standards that we would.
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Speaker 3: Do today, Bret Hauser and the your owner Foster Foundation
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Speaker 3: Repair as our guest this morning, if you want to
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Speaker 3: give us a call as we start talking about some
6:06
Speaker 3: of these topics today, it might kind of raise a
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Speaker 3: little bit of an issue in your mind. If something
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Speaker 3: you've seen around your house or maybe a loved ones.
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Speaker 3: Maybe you're doing a walk around mom's house the other
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Speaker 3: day and you noticed something that might be a little
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Speaker 3: fishy in the basement or around the outside of the house,
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Speaker 3: a crack or something along those lines. You see sidewalks
6:23
Speaker 3: that it seemed to be pulling apart, or driveway something
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Speaker 3: along those lines.
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Speaker 4: You might have some problems somewhere.
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Speaker 3: You can give us a call this morning and Breactice
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Speaker 3: say you on the right path, and maybe give you
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Speaker 3: some consultant if I'm not mistaking your estimates. You do
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Speaker 3: estimates at no cost to the client. So if folks
6:36
Speaker 3: are interested and they need to find out what's going
6:38
Speaker 3: on in their house, they can give us a call.
6:39
Speaker 6: Yes, yes, so we do free estimates. You call the office,
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Speaker 6: set up an appointment. I'll come out myself, will come
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Speaker 6: out and do an evaluation and focus on the area
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Speaker 6: of maybe that person's specific concern or you know, I
6:56
Speaker 6: can do a full evaluation and kind of lay everything out.
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Speaker 6: You know, here's here's the three things I'm seeing, Here's
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Speaker 6: what each one of them costs, and let them select
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Speaker 6: what's within their budget and what's important to them at
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Speaker 6: that time.
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Speaker 3: You can give Brett a call at three zero four
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Speaker 3: seven seven six sixty two sixty three for the office.
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Speaker 3: For the office, that's three zero four seven seven six
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Speaker 3: sixty two sixty three. You can call us this morning
7:18
Speaker 3: at three zero four three four two eight one three
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Speaker 3: one three zero four three four two eight one three
7:22
Speaker 3: one before we kind of continue our discussion about some
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Speaker 3: some specific things in the home. I did want to
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Speaker 3: reset a little bit about Brett's history and where where
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Speaker 3: his background comes from, because you may have heard Brett
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Speaker 3: talk about just now that he would come out and
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Speaker 3: do an evaluation of your home and give you some
7:38
Speaker 3: different plans that you could choose from. And what's so
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Speaker 3: important about that is you're an engineer, So I mean,
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Speaker 3: when you're able to take a look at these things
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Speaker 3: and evaluate properties, somebody might call you for a crack
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Speaker 3: that's in the corner of the in the house or something,
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Speaker 3: and you might be able to say, hey, that looks
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Speaker 3: like normal settling or whatever. However, what I did see
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Speaker 3: and you would be able to point folks towards actual
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Speaker 3: problems that might be in their home. Having an engineer
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Speaker 3: in that can take a look at these things from
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Speaker 3: that perspective is a very worthwhile endeavor.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 6: Yes, I strongly believe that an engineer should be involved
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Speaker 6: in all foundation repairs. Whether you know, working with our company,
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Speaker 6: I can act as that engineer, or I very much
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Speaker 6: enjoy working with third party engineers as well. Have a
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Speaker 6: good working relationship with a with a handful here in
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Speaker 6: the valley. And the reason I like that is is
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Speaker 6: from a third party standpoint engineering standpoint is they don't
8:25
Speaker 6: they don't really.
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Speaker 5: Have a dog in the in the fight. If it
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Speaker 5: costs five thousand or twenty thousand, that doesn't matter to them.
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Speaker 5: It's there.
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Speaker 6: Their objective is to get it fixed correctly and permanently. Now,
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Speaker 6: of course they're going to have a budget in mind,
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Speaker 6: and they're not gonna hopefully they're not going to just
8:40
Speaker 6: throw extra things at it that it doesn't need. But yeah,
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Speaker 6: I strongly believe that. I mean, there are a lot
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Speaker 6: of foundation repairs out there that are well above They're
8:53
Speaker 6: very complicated and just need an engineer. But yeah, so
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Speaker 6: I'm an engineer. My background. I started doing home inspections
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Speaker 6: for a company called Advantage Home and Environment. Sam Wood
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Speaker 6: was the owner of that. He was an engineer or
9:07
Speaker 6: is an engineer, I should say, back in two thousand
9:10
Speaker 6: and five when I was still in college, started working
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Speaker 6: with him doing home inspections. Over the years, I think
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Speaker 6: I've done around eight, eight or nine thousand home inspections
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Speaker 6: and or structural inspections. After working with Sam, I left
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Speaker 6: and started my own business, Kenall Valley Engineering at Home Inspections.
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Speaker 5: Which we've that we've actually closed that business.
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Speaker 6: We're we're not doing that anymore. The construction is is
9:36
Speaker 6: all consuming. We stay very busy with that, so we've
9:40
Speaker 6: we've been doing this for this August will be four
9:44
Speaker 6: years since we purchased the company from from Dave Foster,
9:47
Speaker 6: who was a guy, a man that I worked with
9:51
Speaker 6: quite a bit.
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Speaker 5: We did a lot of work together. We referred back
9:53
Speaker 5: and forth.
9:55
Speaker 4: He was in the area forever a long time.
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Speaker 6: This Yeah, he was in the like the eighties when
9:59
Speaker 6: he started his business, and he's done a lot. He
10:01
Speaker 6: did a lot of work in this valley, and in
10:03
Speaker 6: my opinion, was was the premier foundation repair contractor that.
10:08
Speaker 5: I'll always referred multiple.
10:11
Speaker 6: Contractors, but was you know, kind of pushing their direction
10:14
Speaker 6: because they did they did good work.
10:16
Speaker 5: So that's why.
10:17
Speaker 6: And he approached me about one day we were actually
10:20
Speaker 6: at a project for illegal illegal project, and he approached
10:24
Speaker 6: me about purchasing in the company.
10:26
Speaker 5: And that's where that's how we got here.
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Speaker 3: Well and uh, and it's been a it's been a
10:31
Speaker 3: great journey. And you've done a lot with the company
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Speaker 3: and have been doing radio periodically. We've we've learned a
10:37
Speaker 3: lot about it in your expertise and the areas that
10:39
Speaker 3: you really focus on in this area. It's something that's
10:41
Speaker 3: really it's really needed, you know, the problems that we
10:43
Speaker 3: have with our foundations and different things here. And one
10:45
Speaker 3: of the things that really surprised me when we talk
10:48
Speaker 3: about I have johnber Dad on here on Mondays, we
10:50
Speaker 3: talk about financial literacy. You know, people going out through
10:52
Speaker 3: school not learning about basic finances. A lot of the time,
10:56
Speaker 3: people don't know how to access the law necessarily. We
10:58
Speaker 3: have Harvey Payton on here all the time talking about
10:59
Speaker 3: the the thing that you're not given when you're in
11:02
Speaker 3: school or in colleague or anything else. You're not really
11:06
Speaker 3: given an instruction manual for home ownership. And I was
11:11
Speaker 3: very surprised when, like your car, you got to get
11:14
Speaker 3: a tune up. Well back in the day, I remember
11:16
Speaker 3: when I carried around like a little gapper and you'd
11:17
Speaker 3: have to get spark plugs and things like. That's not
11:19
Speaker 3: necessarily the case anymore, but you have to get oil
11:21
Speaker 3: change and get your tires rotated, different things along those lines.
11:25
Speaker 3: It never even crossed my mind. You got to do
11:28
Speaker 3: those things to your house too. Of course I know
11:29
Speaker 3: that now, but when I was a young person, it's like,
11:31
Speaker 3: not only do you have to clean the eaves and
11:33
Speaker 3: all that stuff. You know, the lawnmowing and stuff is obvious,
11:35
Speaker 3: but you have little things around the house you need
11:37
Speaker 3: to do. But a big part of that and I
11:39
Speaker 3: had no idea. There's things you need to make sure
11:40
Speaker 3: of around your basement, your foundation and things like that.
11:42
Speaker 3: There is maintenance you need to do. You need to
11:44
Speaker 3: be aware of what's going on there.
11:46
Speaker 5: Yes, that is the utmost important.
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Speaker 6: Especially canall city area where I believe you live and
11:53
Speaker 6: end up on these hills, we have a lot of
11:54
Speaker 6: wooded lots.
11:56
Speaker 5: The drains are basically waters.
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Speaker 6: What drives all foundation issues for the most part, sometimes
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Speaker 6: it's poor construction, but inground drains that become collapsed or
12:07
Speaker 6: clogged for you know, full of acorns or whatever due
12:11
Speaker 6: to just overgrowth or lack of maintenance is one of
12:15
Speaker 6: the biggest drivers of foundation issues. So yeah, keeping gutters clean,
12:21
Speaker 6: this is I mean, cleaning gutters is not just a
12:24
Speaker 6: fall time practice this time of year where we're going
12:27
Speaker 6: to start getting the little worly helicopter things that come
12:30
Speaker 6: off trees that will clog gutters. I found a whiffleball
12:33
Speaker 6: in my gutter the other day, So it's it's a
12:36
Speaker 6: constant battle the maintenance I mean, but to me, the
12:41
Speaker 6: water water management around the foundation, that's where I start
12:45
Speaker 6: and stop pretty much with all my inspections and.
12:48
Speaker 5: Typically with the repairs. If there is a if there's.
12:51
Speaker 6: A settlement issue, we're going to identify the water that's
12:54
Speaker 6: causing that to develop and and and address not only
12:59
Speaker 6: the water but the settlement if it needs to be addressed,
13:02
Speaker 6: or maybe we just addressed the water and monitor the
13:05
Speaker 6: foundation settlement for future potentially future repairs.
13:08
Speaker 3: And you could do something just simply like it behooves
13:11
Speaker 3: you to take just a walk around your property, look
13:13
Speaker 3: around your home. Look for even though the signs better me,
13:17
Speaker 3: but look for signs of things that there could be
13:19
Speaker 3: water issues on your property. Obviously anything that's obviously like
13:22
Speaker 3: a crack or anything like that, but there's other signs
13:24
Speaker 3: that you could look for as well.
13:26
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
13:27
Speaker 6: I was throwing the baseball with my son in the
13:29
Speaker 6: front yard and looked over and saw a crack and
13:32
Speaker 6: in my garage that I've never seen before. So I'm
13:36
Speaker 6: sure this winter, this is extreme weather we had, has
13:39
Speaker 6: something to do with it. Fortunately it's just a hairline
13:42
Speaker 6: crack at this time, but it can certainly happen to
13:44
Speaker 6: anybody I am.
13:46
Speaker 3: I'm also conviented. Well, I know that this has to
13:48
Speaker 3: be true that and this extends beyond your expertise, but
13:52
Speaker 3: you know, there's a whole thing like my particular house.
13:55
Speaker 3: I think the issue that I have is that I'm
13:57
Speaker 3: one of the few houses left on the block with
13:58
Speaker 3: tons of trees. I'm situated near the mountain, so I
14:03
Speaker 3: get the sun hidden from me a good part of
14:05
Speaker 3: the year, or the good part of the day. The
14:07
Speaker 3: trees hide the sun from me another part of the day,
14:09
Speaker 3: so my yard never really gets super super super sunlight.
14:15
Speaker 3: And what's happened over the years, especially as the trees
14:18
Speaker 3: have grown now and it's as bad now as I've
14:20
Speaker 3: ever seen it. I'm getting moss replacing most of the
14:22
Speaker 3: grass in my yard on one side in particular. That
14:25
Speaker 3: means there's just so much water.
14:26
Speaker 5: At least you don't have to MOI it.
14:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, yeah, I mean it looks I mean from afar,
14:29
Speaker 4: it looks. It looks fine.
14:30
Speaker 3: You know, you get up on it and it's saw
14:32
Speaker 3: from my kid. You know, I don't really have from
14:34
Speaker 3: a other than aesthetics. And knowing that that means that
14:36
Speaker 3: there's a lot of moisture over there. I don't really care,
14:39
Speaker 3: but I know that that means, man, there must be
14:41
Speaker 3: moisture being retained on that side of my yard.
14:43
Speaker 6: Yeah, and that, I mean that brings up a good point.
14:46
Speaker 6: The direction of house faces does place some effect in this.
14:51
Speaker 6: A good example is my neighbor. We did some work
14:53
Speaker 6: from my neighbor, some cross space work, and she called
14:56
Speaker 6: me when we had all this the right at the
14:58
Speaker 6: tail end of that major ice that we had, and
15:01
Speaker 6: she had a door that was bound and is on
15:04
Speaker 6: the north side of the house and the way that
15:06
Speaker 6: house is situated is they were having snow melt on
15:09
Speaker 6: the roof that was eventually running down and draining off
15:11
Speaker 6: and collecting on a pad, and the ground had frozen
15:14
Speaker 6: so much and there was so much water there that
15:16
Speaker 6: the freeze had actually heaved the foundation and caused their
15:20
Speaker 6: door to bind to the point where they can't open it.
15:23
Speaker 6: I said, well, wait a week, let me come back
15:25
Speaker 6: and tell me what happens.
15:26
Speaker 5: They waited a week, and.
15:27
Speaker 6: Now it's opening perfectly fine, now that the ground is frozen,
15:30
Speaker 6: so it.
15:32
Speaker 5: Again it's water.
15:34
Speaker 4: I talked.
15:34
Speaker 6: I suggested to them that they get maybe some sort
15:37
Speaker 6: of stripeter in their gutter to try to keep it
15:40
Speaker 6: thought out, to keep that water flowing and not dumping
15:43
Speaker 6: off into the ground next to the foundation.
15:46
Speaker 3: And you bring up something there that's actually that's pretty
15:48
Speaker 3: uh interesting as well. When you live in a house,
15:51
Speaker 3: and my home's an older home, and so it has
15:53
Speaker 3: all kinds of things that I'm aware of, you know
15:57
Speaker 3: that you just kind of right off. You get used
15:59
Speaker 3: to it over times. And it was and it had
16:02
Speaker 3: dawned on me the other day that and when you
16:05
Speaker 3: kind of take your take a look at your house
16:07
Speaker 3: for the first time in a while, you know, you
16:08
Speaker 3: try to look at it with new eyes because I'm
16:10
Speaker 3: getting ready to make a I think I'm getting ready
16:12
Speaker 3: to do like an addition, I don't know, I got
16:15
Speaker 3: stuff that I that I'm planning on doing, you know.
16:16
Speaker 3: And so I've been looking around the house trying to
16:18
Speaker 3: come up with these plans. And there's a couple of
16:20
Speaker 3: little things around the house, like I have a pocket
16:22
Speaker 3: door that sticks, and different stuff like that. But there
16:24
Speaker 3: comes a period of time where, Okay, I have an
16:27
Speaker 3: old house, the door sticking a little bit, whatever might
16:29
Speaker 3: happen I'm used to there could be symptoms that you
16:32
Speaker 3: need to be aware of. That sticking door that you've
16:34
Speaker 3: had for years, you're not paying attention. But suddenly if
16:36
Speaker 3: you have other doors that start sticking, and you have
16:39
Speaker 3: windows that aren't aligning right when you're trying to put
16:41
Speaker 3: them up or down ers, there seems to be something happening.
16:43
Speaker 3: You don't want to let those things go for too long.
16:45
Speaker 3: Just because that door stuck for years doesn't mean that
16:48
Speaker 3: if other parts of your house start having problems like that, that
16:50
Speaker 3: doesn't mean there could be an issue somewhere.
16:52
Speaker 4: Yees.
16:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, And sometimes and this to me.
16:55
Speaker 6: Is another benefit of our company and engaging us to
17:00
Speaker 6: give you an evaluation is sometimes it's not.
17:03
Speaker 4: An issue, which makes you feel better, right, Yeah.
17:05
Speaker 6: I mean there are plenty of I'd say at least
17:07
Speaker 6: once a week. I do eight or ten evaluations a week,
17:11
Speaker 6: and at least once a week I'm telling people you
17:13
Speaker 6: don't have an issue, you don't need anything done. But
17:15
Speaker 6: a good example of a situation that might present as
17:19
Speaker 6: a potential structural concern, but it's primarily a cosmetic issue
17:24
Speaker 6: or really a serviceability issue. That is a lot of
17:28
Speaker 6: homes we have what are called joisted masonry homes, and
17:31
Speaker 6: what those are is exterior walls or masonry, very prevalent
17:34
Speaker 6: down on the East end of Charleston. Exterior walls or masonry,
17:38
Speaker 6: or you have an interior masonry chimney and the rest
17:43
Speaker 6: of the house is wood frame and over time wood
17:45
Speaker 6: will shrink, and if you go up on the third
17:48
Speaker 6: level of some of these East end homes, you will
17:50
Speaker 6: have these really large diagonal cracks that develop, and it's
17:53
Speaker 6: a function of the wood shrinking and the masonry knot
17:56
Speaker 6: and it creates self straining forces within the home.
18:02
Speaker 5: I've seen situations where there's a like a closet door.
18:05
Speaker 6: It's oftentimes a closet, a closet door that's running perpendicular
18:08
Speaker 6: to an exterior masonry wall, and the top of the
18:10
Speaker 6: door will look like it's two inches out a level,
18:13
Speaker 6: and it's simply a result of that self straining force.
18:17
Speaker 6: And I've seen other other companies and other individuals say
18:20
Speaker 6: you need to fix this, you have to go do
18:22
Speaker 6: this to fix this problem. And it's not really a problem.
18:24
Speaker 6: It's just it's a function. It's just the natural agent
18:27
Speaker 6: of the building.
18:28
Speaker 3: Great information as always from Brett Hodgson from Foster Foundation Repair.
18:32
Speaker 3: If you have any questions this wing and give us
18:33
Speaker 3: a call three zero four three four two eight one
18:35
Speaker 3: three one three zero four three four two eight one
18:36
Speaker 3: three one. We're starting talking about some of the things
18:38
Speaker 3: that the effects that weather can have on your foundation,
18:41
Speaker 3: some of the signs that you might see. We're going
18:43
Speaker 3: to get into some of the repair tech some of
18:45
Speaker 3: the repair techniques and other things to get us along
18:48
Speaker 3: for the remainder of the show. You can give us
18:50
Speaker 3: a call if you want to point in the direction
18:51
Speaker 3: in any way, if you have any questions about your
18:52
Speaker 3: foundation or your basement problems that you see. You can
18:55
Speaker 3: give up Bright a call this morning three zero four,
18:56
Speaker 3: three four two eight one three one three zero four
18:58
Speaker 3: three four two eight one three one. You can also
19:00
Speaker 3: text over any questions you have if you don't have
19:02
Speaker 3: time to get on the phone this morning. Our text
19:03
Speaker 3: on numbers three zero four non three five five zero
19:06
Speaker 3: zero eight three zero four non three five five zero
19:08
Speaker 3: zero eight. We'll take a break and be back right
19:10
Speaker 3: after this. I'm Dell Cooper. I'm in studio this morning
19:12
Speaker 3: when I ask the expert with Red Huston from Foster
19:14
Speaker 3: Foundation Repair. We'll be back right after this. On five
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Speaker 4: Boom.
20:32
Speaker 3: Welcome back here listening to ask the expert of w
20:33
Speaker 3: c HS, the Voice of Charleston. Happy to have Brett
20:35
Speaker 3: hodgeton studio? I guess I'm happy although he's a Cubs fan.
20:38
Speaker 3: I just found out to have Brett Hogton in studio
20:40
Speaker 3: with this this morning. Owner of Foster Construction or Foster
20:44
Speaker 3: Foundation Repair. It gives a call this morning three er
20:46
Speaker 3: four three four two eight one three one three four
20:48
Speaker 3: two eight one three one. You can find out more
20:49
Speaker 3: about Foster Foundation Repair online. It's Foster Foundation Repair dot com.
20:52
Speaker 3: Easy to remember Foster Foundation Repair dot Com. You can
20:55
Speaker 3: give them a call. Speaking of calls, we have a
20:57
Speaker 3: call right now. It has a question question for Brett.
21:00
Speaker 3: Good morning, color. What's your first name?
21:02
Speaker 10: My name is Jennifer.
21:03
Speaker 4: Hey, Jennifer, how are you doing this morning.
21:05
Speaker 10: I'm doing well. Thank you very much. I appreciate this.
21:07
Speaker 10: This is a very timely situation for us.
21:12
Speaker 4: Yes, okay, go ahead.
21:14
Speaker 10: My husband and I live on the Coal River, literally
21:18
Speaker 10: on the Coal and we had water in our basement
21:24
Speaker 10: for the first time the house was built in nineteen
21:27
Speaker 10: seventy five. It was the first time water had ever
21:29
Speaker 10: been built, ever been in the house since it was built. Thankfully,
21:37
Speaker 10: the waters this year didn't quite make it up to
21:40
Speaker 10: the basement. But in February when we had that deluge
21:45
Speaker 10: of rain in the middle of the night, the severe
21:48
Speaker 10: thunderstorms and just sheets of rain. We had two inches
21:53
Speaker 10: of rain during that in four hours. This had never
21:59
Speaker 10: had before. It took me totally by surprise because I
22:03
Speaker 10: was the one who found it. I had a cat
22:05
Speaker 10: foster space in the basement, so I'm down there multiple
22:08
Speaker 10: times a day. I made my morning trip down and
22:11
Speaker 10: I could see through the door because it's glass. The
22:14
Speaker 10: carpet looked weird.
22:16
Speaker 9: I had a piece of.
22:17
Speaker 10: Eight by ten carpeting down there with a path under it,
22:21
Speaker 10: and I walked in looking down thinking this just looks weird. Well,
22:26
Speaker 10: it's because it was soaked and there the whole floor
22:31
Speaker 10: was wet. And what had happened on the upside of
22:36
Speaker 10: the house, which faces the road. We're below the road,
22:40
Speaker 10: so of course all the water is going to come
22:41
Speaker 10: through our property to try to make its way to
22:43
Speaker 10: the river, and the ditch on the opposite side of
22:47
Speaker 10: the driveway could not carry all that water, so it
22:50
Speaker 10: sent it across the driveway under our house, all the
22:55
Speaker 10: way through the cross space, all the way through the
22:58
Speaker 10: utility side of the basement to my foster space. That's
23:02
Speaker 10: never happened before. Well, now we are seeing the repercussions
23:06
Speaker 10: of that because one side of the house, which we
23:10
Speaker 10: knew we had an issue there, but this really exacerbated it. Yeah,
23:15
Speaker 10: and so we're in the process now preparing for someone
23:20
Speaker 10: to come look at it and break the news to us.
23:23
Speaker 6: Well, we would certainly be happy to come take a
23:26
Speaker 6: look at it. I hate to hear that the situation
23:30
Speaker 6: that has occurred I've heard of.
23:34
Speaker 5: You're not the only one.
23:35
Speaker 6: That has had the water basically from flowing water caused
23:39
Speaker 6: damage like this that I've heard over the last few months.
23:43
Speaker 5: And you said you're on the Coal River.
23:45
Speaker 10: Yeah, we're on the coal. We're on Fourth Road if
23:48
Speaker 10: you're familiar with the Saint Aubans or Tornado area at all.
23:54
Speaker 10: The reason we knew we had an issue is because
23:56
Speaker 10: twenty years ago we had the bedroom on the office
24:00
Speaker 10: side of the house remodeled, and they told us because
24:04
Speaker 10: we didn't build this house, and back when we did,
24:09
Speaker 10: when we bought home, inspectors were few and far between,
24:12
Speaker 10: and the ones that there were were not certified. So
24:16
Speaker 10: it was an FAHA inspector and they found little tiddly
24:20
Speaker 10: things that didn't even make much sense to Cellar or us.
24:27
Speaker 10: But it turned out that this house, the front part
24:30
Speaker 10: of it, even though there's a foundation because we're built
24:34
Speaker 10: on a slope, there is a foundation that of course
24:37
Speaker 10: supports the house on out from the driveway, but the
24:41
Speaker 10: front part of it was put on the ground. There's
24:45
Speaker 10: not even a footer there. So they went in on
24:49
Speaker 10: that side through the bedroom, they took up the floor
24:53
Speaker 10: and put in a peer and we've not had any
24:57
Speaker 10: trouble at all with that side since then. And he said,
25:01
Speaker 10: you all should really have the other side done well.
25:03
Speaker 10: Of course, we'd had a bedroom repair that included a
25:06
Speaker 10: walking closet and a pantry in the hallway, and so
25:10
Speaker 10: you know, we didn't we didn't do it right away,
25:12
Speaker 10: and obviously we haven't done it since, and now we're
25:14
Speaker 10: going to pay for it.
25:16
Speaker 5: Yeah.
25:16
Speaker 6: Well, I mean it sounds it sounds like it's it's
25:20
Speaker 6: a fixable problem. And and we can certainly do something
25:25
Speaker 6: in the yard to divert water around the building. A
25:31
Speaker 6: lot of times we can do what's called a drainage
25:33
Speaker 6: swale that will will divert water away. So you didn't
25:39
Speaker 6: have Actually the river didn't back up in it. It
25:42
Speaker 6: wasn't a flood.
25:43
Speaker 10: It was agy no, no, the house the we like
25:50
Speaker 10: I said, the only water that's ever been in the
25:52
Speaker 10: house from the river was four years ago, and that
25:54
Speaker 10: was totally three inches in the basement and it was
25:57
Speaker 10: quick up, quick down. I took care of it. I
26:00
Speaker 10: have that was by And I don't know why they
26:02
Speaker 10: didn't offer this this year unless there just wasn't that
26:05
Speaker 10: much damage done in Connall County. But four years ago
26:09
Speaker 10: they offered free debris pickup. They wanted to know if
26:15
Speaker 10: you had had water in your house, and somebody from
26:17
Speaker 10: the county came to visit. I had a call from
26:20
Speaker 10: Catholic Charities wanting to know if we needed any FAMI health.
26:23
Speaker 10: It just went on and on and on and on. Well,
26:26
Speaker 10: that didn't all I do. Did We spend a little
26:28
Speaker 10: bit of extra time and cleaning spots. There was no
26:31
Speaker 10: issues at all. So that's the only time water has
26:34
Speaker 10: ever been in the house from the river. But I
26:36
Speaker 10: can't help but think it will happen again eventually. Yeah,
26:39
Speaker 10: because the river just continues to the silt just continues
26:46
Speaker 10: to build up in it.
26:47
Speaker 5: Yeah.
26:48
Speaker 6: I used to live on the Coal River, so I'm
26:51
Speaker 6: very familiar with the challenges there. And we got very
26:56
Speaker 6: close to having water in our basement. It was my
26:58
Speaker 6: first home I ever owned. I was a bachelor at
27:01
Speaker 6: the time, and I thought it was going to be
27:03
Speaker 6: the place to be. But but yeah, I would be
27:06
Speaker 6: happy to come take a look at that, and and
27:08
Speaker 6: and at least, you know, give you, give you some
27:11
Speaker 6: direction and an estimate, and at least give you some
27:15
Speaker 6: some help.
27:16
Speaker 10: Okay, Well, I appreciate that. I will give you a
27:18
Speaker 10: call at the office.
27:19
Speaker 5: Okay, it's three or four, seven, seven, six, six two
27:23
Speaker 5: sixty three.
27:24
Speaker 4: Thank you for a phone calling. Thank you very much,
27:27
Speaker 4: appreciate it.
27:27
Speaker 3: Thanks you for going to call this one that leaves
27:28
Speaker 3: a phone line open for you if you want to
27:29
Speaker 3: get in and talk to Brett. Three zero four three
27:31
Speaker 3: four two eight one three one three four two eight
27:33
Speaker 3: one three one. Of course, uh, the number for Foster
27:35
Speaker 3: Foundation Repair is three zer A four seven seven six
27:37
Speaker 3: sixty two sixty three. As Brett just said, seven seven
27:39
Speaker 3: six sixty two sixty three. And again, just to reiterate
27:43
Speaker 3: something that you said earlier, is that when you take
27:45
Speaker 3: a look at these properties and and and issues as
27:48
Speaker 3: you see them, you try as best as possible to
27:50
Speaker 3: give folks options that they can that they can take
27:52
Speaker 3: a look at, being understanding that not everybody can afford
27:57
Speaker 3: the best absolute possible fix. You can come up with
28:01
Speaker 3: solutions that are that are efficient and effective and and
28:04
Speaker 3: and what needs to be done, but you can give
28:06
Speaker 3: folks options hopefully if there is any.
28:08
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, there's there's always there's always to to you know,
28:12
Speaker 6: at least two ways to to to approach it. There's
28:16
Speaker 6: certain ways we will not approach that other companies will.
28:21
Speaker 6: I have my reasons which are would not It'd be
28:25
Speaker 6: difficult to explain on the radio, but there's a there's
28:28
Speaker 6: a lot of things that we do for specific reasons
28:30
Speaker 6: and a lot of things we don't do for for
28:32
Speaker 6: those reasons.
28:33
Speaker 5: But yeah, we we would.
28:34
Speaker 6: We can certainly come up with with multiple repair options.
28:38
Speaker 6: In some cases, it sounds in that situation like there
28:44
Speaker 6: may be just you know, one direction to go if
28:47
Speaker 6: the if the foot has been undermined.
28:49
Speaker 5: I didn't hear everything.
28:52
Speaker 6: That she had, you know, kind of fully understand the situation,
28:55
Speaker 6: but it does sound like probably underpinning of some sort
28:59
Speaker 6: to stabilize the foundation in that situation, and then redirecting
29:03
Speaker 6: water for sure.
29:04
Speaker 3: And and so you take a look at something like
29:07
Speaker 3: that and uh and come up with the best possible solutions.
29:09
Speaker 3: And this is and it's and again it's one of
29:11
Speaker 3: those things that just like our caller, it's not necessarily
29:14
Speaker 3: something issues that you have all the time. Something can
29:16
Speaker 3: come out of nowhere. One of the things I wanted
29:18
Speaker 3: to make sure that we address as well, because we've
29:19
Speaker 3: been talking about a lot about reactive things that you
29:22
Speaker 3: can do. You know, you see something that you can
29:24
Speaker 3: call and you can react to, which of course obviously
29:26
Speaker 3: is a core part of your business, but you also
29:28
Speaker 3: have services that you offered that could help in preventative
29:30
Speaker 3: measures and things as well that if you want to
29:32
Speaker 3: have done to your to your to your your basement.
29:34
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean primarily are are What we do is
29:38
Speaker 6: waterproofing xter your waterproofing or interior water management. A lot
29:45
Speaker 6: of a lot of the industry calls INTI your drainage systems.
29:49
Speaker 5: They call that water proofing. It's it's not.
29:52
Speaker 6: But we will install interior water management systems that once
29:56
Speaker 6: the water penetrates into the building, it's collected and divert
30:00
Speaker 6: either to a pomp or back outside through gravity drainage improvements.
30:06
Speaker 6: That's a that's a big one. I think that like
30:07
Speaker 6: a French drain to to We've got a project coming
30:11
Speaker 6: up where where the hill slopes toward the house and
30:14
Speaker 6: and they've had some water entry. So we're going to
30:17
Speaker 6: recontour the yard and divert the water through with a
30:20
Speaker 6: French drain as well as surface drainage. It's it's going
30:23
Speaker 6: to be two full. The French drain will kind of be.
30:26
Speaker 5: The last resort.
30:29
Speaker 6: But yeah, most of what we do is is after
30:33
Speaker 6: unfortunately the problem has has developed, I mean, the maintenance,
30:38
Speaker 6: the main the things that prevent the foundation issues from
30:42
Speaker 6: developing a proper original construction, which we don't have a
30:47
Speaker 6: say in and then really the maintenance. Maintenance of the
30:50
Speaker 6: house is probably one of the biggest ones. But I
30:52
Speaker 6: mean some of it's just unfortunate luck like like the
30:55
Speaker 6: situation there were a ditch overflowed and over and ran
31:01
Speaker 6: up against the house.
31:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's not much, you know, Sometimes these things unfortunately
31:05
Speaker 3: just happen, you know, and the nature of where we
31:08
Speaker 3: live and things like that, you're always going to be
31:10
Speaker 3: stumbling calling different pressures like that you mentioned earlier water management,
31:14
Speaker 3: and I kind of go back to what I was
31:15
Speaker 3: saying earlier about you're not giving instruction angles to home
31:18
Speaker 3: sometimes when you move into them. If you've never lived
31:20
Speaker 3: in a place that had a water management system where
31:22
Speaker 3: it diverted the water, you know, and then it took
31:24
Speaker 3: it out again. In Kanas City we have that where
31:28
Speaker 3: you have to be aware of that system as well.
31:31
Speaker 3: If you have a system that does that, you make
31:32
Speaker 3: sure that your drains aren't plugged, that the water is
31:34
Speaker 3: flowing to the place that's getting diverted to. In my case,
31:36
Speaker 3: it goes into a sump that where the sump pump
31:38
Speaker 3: takes it out to the takes it out.
31:40
Speaker 4: To the alley.
31:41
Speaker 3: If any one of those chains get broken, somewhere along
31:44
Speaker 3: the way, it's going to cause water to get in
31:45
Speaker 3: my basement.
31:46
Speaker 6: Yeah, And you guys down in Kanall City, a lot
31:48
Speaker 6: of you need to have the check valves on your
31:51
Speaker 6: sewer line because a lot of the older neighborhoods in
31:54
Speaker 6: the area have combined storm and sanitary systems that can
31:58
Speaker 6: get overwhelmed during strong rain events or they can become
32:02
Speaker 6: plugged because of the trees. Again, and people have had
32:06
Speaker 6: water storm and sewer water back up into their basement
32:08
Speaker 6: through Florid DA.
32:09
Speaker 4: Poor my poor neighbor had that happened just a couple
32:12
Speaker 4: of weeks ago.
32:12
Speaker 6: Yeah, and that's what we don't that's more of a plumber, Yeah,
32:16
Speaker 6: installing check valves.
32:17
Speaker 5: But I mean every little.
32:20
Speaker 6: Part of part of my experiences I've I've been in
32:23
Speaker 6: every little nook and cranny in the valley, and I
32:25
Speaker 6: understand have a good understanding of what the challenges are
32:29
Speaker 6: in Keanall City. I mean there's certain streets that when
32:32
Speaker 6: when I see that that street come up, I pretty
32:34
Speaker 6: well know what.
32:35
Speaker 4: You know, if what the problem is going to be.
32:37
Speaker 6: And if if it's a settlement issue, I know the
32:40
Speaker 6: piers are going to run.
32:41
Speaker 5: Forty feet deep. Before they before they hit competent material.
32:44
Speaker 6: A good example, anything down in the down in the river,
32:48
Speaker 6: down in the flats of Charleston, or certain areas of
32:51
Speaker 6: Tayste Valley, they're just going to run deep.
32:53
Speaker 3: So and that comes from experience and seeing so many
32:56
Speaker 3: of these different properties. You kind of know the area
32:57
Speaker 3: a little bit before you even get out there. Yeah,
32:59
Speaker 3: and that's a lot, that's a lot of experience you
33:00
Speaker 3: can put on your side again. Foster Construction more informational
33:02
Speaker 3: line Foster Foundation Repair dot com. Foster Foundation Repair dot
33:06
Speaker 3: com is the web address you can probably squeeze in
33:09
Speaker 3: a phone call here this morning if you'd like to
33:11
Speaker 3: get on before we leave the airways. Threes are A
33:13
Speaker 3: four three four two eight one three one. Threes are
33:15
Speaker 3: A four three four two eight one three one. You
33:16
Speaker 3: can also contact Foster Foundation Repair at three zero four
33:19
Speaker 3: seven seven six sixty two sixty three. Threes are A
33:21
Speaker 3: four seven seven six sixty two sixty three is their
33:24
Speaker 3: fun number. As we kind of wrap up our conversation
33:26
Speaker 3: this morning, it was just a couple minutes left with
33:27
Speaker 3: Bret Hodston, the owner of Foster Foundation Repair, talking about
33:31
Speaker 3: different things that has to do with with your home,
33:33
Speaker 3: and it's one of those Uh, it's one of those
33:36
Speaker 3: things like for example, if you've never had if you've
33:40
Speaker 3: lived somewhere before where when your power goes out, you're like, ah,
33:42
Speaker 3: you know, I can live with the power going out
33:44
Speaker 3: for for a day or so. You know, it's not
33:46
Speaker 3: roughing it too much to me. That might be perfectly
33:49
Speaker 3: correct about every aspect of your life. However, if you
33:52
Speaker 3: live in a place again like I do, or somewhere
33:54
Speaker 3: that has issues with a sump, where you have a
33:57
Speaker 3: sumpump or whatever, you want to get a generator, you know,
34:00
Speaker 3: I mean something along those lines. Don't just don't just
34:02
Speaker 3: wing it, because if you if your power goes out
34:04
Speaker 3: and your sump can't pump that water out of out
34:07
Speaker 3: of your your hole, it's going to overflow. It's going
34:09
Speaker 3: to get into your basement. I've had it happen before.
34:10
Speaker 3: You've got to be careful of that.
34:12
Speaker 6: Yeah, So we pretty well for a standard. When it
34:15
Speaker 6: comes to some pumps are going to install one with
34:17
Speaker 6: a battery backup, I think they're I mean, they're a
34:20
Speaker 6: little bit I mean they're an add on, of course,
34:23
Speaker 6: but in the grand scheme of these projects, they're a
34:25
Speaker 6: very small percentage.
34:26
Speaker 4: Of the product and so much worth it.
34:27
Speaker 6: Yes, they come with alarms. If the primary pump fails,
34:31
Speaker 6: the backup kicks on. If the battery of the powers out,
34:34
Speaker 6: the backup kicks on. So yeah, I think those are
34:37
Speaker 6: are priceless. I mean, if the house has a generator,
34:40
Speaker 6: we might consider not installing one. But again that's going
34:43
Speaker 6: to be a conversation with the owner and more often
34:46
Speaker 6: than not, they're going to.
34:47
Speaker 3: Want that add or protection, and one way or the other,
34:49
Speaker 3: you want to make sure that you have that on
34:50
Speaker 3: there because I've been in that situation before where I
34:52
Speaker 3: just had a cheap replacement. You know, it's just going
34:54
Speaker 3: to work for now, and it works until it doesn't.
34:56
Speaker 3: You know, it works until it doesn't. If the power
34:57
Speaker 3: goes out, the engine burns out, something happens, Suddenly you're
34:59
Speaker 3: not pumped that water out and it only it takes
35:01
Speaker 3: a few minutes for for it to breach, and then
35:03
Speaker 3: once it once it breaches, you're pretty much done.
35:05
Speaker 6: Yeah, you're some pum Some pumps typically only have a
35:07
Speaker 6: three year warranty from the manufacturer, so they don't they
35:10
Speaker 6: don't last forever by any means.
35:12
Speaker 3: Think about yours in your basement right now, because I
35:14
Speaker 3: promise you there's so many people out there, it's like,
35:15
Speaker 3: what three years.
35:16
Speaker 5: Yeah, and we do, we do replace some pumps.
35:19
Speaker 3: The true story the the the last time that you
35:21
Speaker 3: told me that we had this discussion before the last
35:23
Speaker 3: time you told me that about the sump pump and
35:25
Speaker 3: generally how long they're supposed to last. I looked up
35:27
Speaker 3: my model. I was like, years past. Mind, I replaced
35:29
Speaker 3: mine because of that. I was like, this thing's been
35:31
Speaker 3: it's been a tried and true warrior. It's done its job.
35:33
Speaker 3: I have no complaints, but I better probably replace this
35:36
Speaker 3: thing or I want to find myself with water in
35:37
Speaker 3: my basement.
35:37
Speaker 6: They live, they live a tough environ in a tough environment.
35:40
Speaker 6: I mean they're they're sitting in a bucket of water
35:42
Speaker 6: from the day they go into service.
35:43
Speaker 3: And much like an HVAC system or something, when it's
35:46
Speaker 3: hot and it's constantly on. If if you have a
35:48
Speaker 3: lot of water that's coming in and it's pouring down raining,
35:50
Speaker 3: you got a lot of drainage that some pump just
35:52
Speaker 3: runs almost constantly, and you're.
35:53
Speaker 4: Like, please don't go off, please don't go off.
35:56
Speaker 3: It's pretty bad. Bred Hausch once again the owner of
35:58
Speaker 3: Foster Foundation Room. This show is going to be on
36:02
Speaker 3: podcast if you missed any portion of it you want
36:04
Speaker 3: to follow up. We had a lot of the information
36:06
Speaker 3: that we covered over here today, Brett talking a little
36:08
Speaker 3: bit about his background, some of the situations that he's
36:11
Speaker 3: that he's handled, and also just the vast storehouse of
36:14
Speaker 3: knowledge that comes from an engineer that has so much
36:17
Speaker 3: experience in this valley that can help you out with
36:19
Speaker 3: some of these issues with your foundation. So you can
36:20
Speaker 3: listen to the podcast if you want to. That'll be
36:22
Speaker 3: at wchstwork dot com slash podcast and that will be
36:25
Speaker 3: up there within about an hour or so after the
36:27
Speaker 3: show's over today, So if you missed any portion of that,
36:29
Speaker 3: that's where you can find it.
36:31
Speaker 4: Wrapping up the show here.
36:32
Speaker 3: In just a few moments as far as we start
36:34
Speaker 3: getting into you know, it's been super dry. We had
36:37
Speaker 3: the fire warnings and things that we're going to get
36:38
Speaker 3: a little bit of moisture and things like that, just
36:40
Speaker 3: as folks, as a reminders we start changing seasons and
36:42
Speaker 3: we start moving into from cold and wet to warm
36:45
Speaker 3: and wet. What are some of the things that you
36:47
Speaker 3: want to be aware of around your home. That could
36:50
Speaker 3: be a red flag for you that you need to
36:51
Speaker 3: call somebody that you might be having some problems.
36:53
Speaker 6: So obviously, anything anytime you see a new crack develop,
36:56
Speaker 6: that's something to be aware of. Doors beginning to bind
37:03
Speaker 6: or or no longer latch, that's that's always a pretty
37:06
Speaker 6: good example. Cracks developing above doorways or sometimes between the
37:12
Speaker 6: ceiling and the walls, that's that's another another good thing
37:15
Speaker 6: to keep an eye out for.
37:16
Speaker 3: And as Brett said before, sometimes those things happen. They
37:19
Speaker 3: don't mean the worst thing in the world, but it's
37:21
Speaker 3: always good to get them checked out because it could
37:22
Speaker 3: be something bad.
37:23
Speaker 6: Nope, and and and you could be like me and
37:25
Speaker 6: go out there in the rain with your umbrella and
37:27
Speaker 6: check to see if your gutters are overfl that's always
37:30
Speaker 6: something to that's that's obviously the easiest way to see.
37:33
Speaker 3: I ask your professional consultation on something I'm actually getting
37:36
Speaker 3: ready to do, and your estimation of those covered gutter's
37:39
Speaker 3: worth it, the ones that have the protection on top
37:41
Speaker 3: of it.
37:41
Speaker 6: It depends. There's a lot of different kinds out there.
37:45
Speaker 6: It depends on the trees. Yes, I think generally i'd
37:49
Speaker 6: say gutter guards are probably one of the best investments
37:52
Speaker 6: a homeowner can make.
37:54
Speaker 5: There's there's one type. It's like a gutter hood or
37:57
Speaker 5: they called.
37:58
Speaker 6: A lot of different things, but it relies on capital
38:00
Speaker 6: reaction for the water to roll around the edge of
38:03
Speaker 6: the gutter and the surface tension between the water and
38:06
Speaker 6: the gutter. The metal keeps the water tight. It looks
38:10
Speaker 6: literally like there's no way water shift it would get
38:12
Speaker 6: in the gutter, but it does work. The problem that
38:15
Speaker 6: I see with those is they get dirty and they
38:18
Speaker 6: gets a little bit of the debris built up on
38:20
Speaker 6: that and that.
38:21
Speaker 5: Brings that sort.
38:22
Speaker 3: It's great information up until the last second with Brett
38:24
Speaker 3: hadgons from Foster Foundation Repair once again the seven seven
38:27
Speaker 3: six sixty two sixty three seven seven six sixty two
38:29
Speaker 3: sixty three. Brett thinks, a bunch of your time appreciated.
38:32
Speaker 3: They have a great day. Everyone on five ADWCHS Voice Charleston.
38:38
Speaker 2: Fights at six point five Charleston one or four point
38:42
Speaker 2: five Cross Lay WUVRC Media Station.
38:47
Speaker 7: We're proud to live here too.