Detroit Real Estate

Here is a quick Metro Detroit home buying tip about Foundations.

When I talk about foundations I mean the basement walls and or the block walls in the crawl space.  Have a dry problem free foundation is very important when buying a Metro Detroit home.   I always tell my clients that if you life in a home long enough sooner or later you may have a basement water problem.  You just have to fix it before it becomes a major issue.

There are three basic types of basement foundations in Michigan.  There are either

1. Block Walls
2. Poured Basement Walls
3. Michigan Basements

Block Walls

I myself don't like block walls.  They tend to have more problems over the years and they cost more to repair.  Many times block walls have to be repaired from the outside.  So that means you have to dig up the outside of the house.  That means it is going to cost you some good money to get the problem fixed.  Some of the major issues that block basement walls have is that the wall is bowed and cracked.  Sometimes they have to put a pole in to hold the wall straight. 

If a home has a bowed basement wall I usually recommend my buyers to walk away from the house.  There are only long term issues involved.  When I mean bowed is when the wall is actually curved.  You can put a flat board up against the wall and there will be gaps between the board and the wall because of the curve.  It is going to cost you thousands of dollars to repair a bowed wall.

Poured Basement Walls

I like poured basement walls because they usually are easier and less expensive to fix.  There are two different repairs that you see in a poured basement wall, rod holes or cracks in the wall.  A Crack in the wall is easily fixed by cleaning out the crack and injecting a sealant into the crack.  A rod hole is fixed by putting a new cork in the hole and filling with sealant.

Very rarely do you have to dig up a poured basement wall to fix a leak. 

Michigan Basements

Michigan Basements are usually in older homes.  There are usually shorter basements.  Usually the are rock walls.  Yes it is an old rock wall basement.

I hope this gives you a little insight into basement walls when buying a Metro Detroit home.