Drought takes toll on home basements and foundations

November 08, 2011|By Jim Grawe | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(WICHITA, Kan.) — No problems for 35 years and suddenly Harry Neel's house starts to crack.

"The reason we kind of discovered it, the back door wouldn't shut real easy and we realized we were having problems with shifting," Neel says.

The shifting of the foundation quickly caused cracks in the ceiling and walls of the basement. Wayne Briggs of Briggs Basement and Foundation Repair says the damage is due to the forces of nature--namely the recent drought.

"This is one of our busiest years ever," Briggs says. "Drought, dryness in the ground, the ground shrinks and settles causing the house to go down."

Now this week, Briggs has been getting calls from people wondering about the impact of another force of nature on homes.

"The answer to that is, definitely there can be damage to brick on your house from earthquakes," Briggs says.

And geophysicist Dennis Hedke warns that an even bigger quake could be on the way.

"It was very surprising we had these three clumped together about a day apart from one another," Hedke says. "Maybe that's the end of it, but they could also be precursors to something that is further down the line here."

Briggs says drought-damaged homes that don't get repaired could see more serious damage if we get another quake.

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