Do homes truly settle?

Recording ghosts can be quite a challenging task. First, paranormal investigators must find a location where ghostly occurrences have been reported. Once they get permission to investigate in a supposedly haunted site, they need to bring in a variety of sensitive tools, including thermal imaging cameras and electromagnetic field meters. When everything is set, they enter a waiting period that can test even the most patient.

In most situations, the investigation results in little more than a quiet night spent listening in the dark of an old house, with no results to show for it. Even when evidence is gathered, it’s often dismissed by skeptics.

Consider the famous 'Brown Lady' photograph. Two photographers from Country Life magazine were documenting Raynham Hall, a manor in England, when one pointed to the staircase and urged his partner to quickly snap a photo. After the negative was developed, a ghostly figure appeared. The homeowners believed it showed the manor's resident ghost, thought to be Dorothy Walpole, the wife of the original owner, who passed away in 1729 [source: Fortean Times].

Like many other apparent ghostly visuals, the photo was dismissed as a double exposure. A closer look reveals two images of the same staircase. Just as double exposure explains away many photos of apparitions, skeptics offer a similar explanation for ghostly sounds: they are merely the result of a house settling.

It makes sense; older homes are the most likely to be haunted (if ghosts exist), since they've had more time to accumulate a history. On the flip side, older houses are more prone to settling due to the years of wear. But do houses truly settle, or is this just a tactic by skeptics to dismiss the reality of g-g-g-ghosts? Discover the truth about whether houses really settle on the next page.

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Why Houses Settle

So, do houses really settle or is it just the talk of ghost skeptics? In fact, houses do settle. As they begin to shift downward, joints and floorboards tend to creak, which explains the strange sounds heard in settling homes. Over time, all houses will settle eventually. This settling can lead to significant issues. The extent of the settlement depends on factors like the quality of the house’s design and construction, as well as the attention paid to the foundation and the ground it's built on.

The most frequent cause of house settling is improperly backfilled soil. If you’ve ever worked in a garden after adding fresh topsoil, you may have noticed that even after pressing the soil down, your footprints remain. This is similar to what happens with a house. When a builder digs too deep for a basement or crawlspace and needs to refill it, this process requires more care than simply digging the basement to the right depth.

This is because the soil, known as non-virgin soil, has been disturbed [source: HouseMaster]. The natural compression that created compacted soil suitable for building has been undone. To restore a stable base, the refilled soil must be tamped down. If it’s not compacted sufficiently, the house built on top of it will settle.

Even when the soil is compacted properly, other construction factors can still cause a house to settle. For example, burying construction debris like broken studs or pieces of drywall in an excavated area where the house will stand is not a good idea. These materials decay over time, forming pockets that eventually collapse, destabilizing the soil above and potentially causing the house to settle. The same issue occurs with organic materials (such as tree stumps or branches), which degrade over time. Even non-degradable materials, like metal, can leave voids that cause similar problems.

The type of soil beneath a house can also affect how quickly it settles. Clay soil, for example, expands and contracts depending on its moisture content. When clay becomes saturated, it swells, causing upheaval — the opposite of settling — a process that leads to issues for homeowners [source: HouseMaster]. When the clay dries, it contracts and sinks, triggering settlement.

Water can also damage a home's foundation in several ways. Tree roots near a house's foundation search for moisture, often causing cracks by penetrating the ground. These roots disrupt soil compaction, leading to settlement. Additionally, tree roots can direct rainwater underneath the house, further undermining the soil’s integrity. A house without eave troughs to divert water away from the foundation will likely experience faster settlement than one with troughs, since water can seep under the foundation.

Now that you know why your house settles, you may be wondering how to detect it. Read the next page to learn more.

When It's Time to Panic: Home Plumb Line

Ideally, houses are built to be plumb -- constructed so that they follow a straight vertical line, 90 degrees from the horizontal plane. Think of your house's foundation as that horizontal plane. Everything that rises from it, like the studs in the walls and the sides of your door frames, should align with this plumb line. When the foundation of your house shifts, it falls out of plumb and toward the horizontal plane [source: Nash].

When this shift happens, the effects can be significant. Often, the first sign is cracks in the house’s masonry or concrete slab foundation. If you venture into the basement or crawlspace, you'll likely see cinder block walls. This is the masonry foundation that supports the entire structure above ground. If you instead find a large concrete slab, you have a slab foundation. In either case, if the soil beneath shifts, cracks will appear.

However, cracks don't always indicate house settlement. Foundations can face other pressures that lead to cracks. For instance, in colder climates, the freeze-thaw cycle can cause rigid materials like cinder blocks and concrete to expand and contract, eventually resulting in cracks. While cracks in the foundation are generally not ideal, those caused by seasonal changes can often be repaired.

While small cracks can sometimes be attributed to seasonal changes, new cracks, particularly several appearing simultaneously, should be taken seriously. Old cracks that suddenly widen or any cracks that reach about a quarter-inch in width are strong signs that the house's weight is shifting downward [source: HouseMaster]. In wooden frame homes, walls may bow due to the pressure from settling, as wood is somewhat flexible. However, walls made of brick or stone are much more rigid and tend to crack more easily.

There are other, potentially more alarming signs of settlement. As the house moves downward, water and gas pipes throughout the home may twist. A twisted water pipe is usually easy to detect, as it can burst and flood the house. On the other hand, a broken gas pipe is harder to spot but far more dangerous. If you notice your pipes bending, there's definitely an issue. Doors and windows also provide clues. When they fall out of plumb, opening and closing them becomes difficult because they become angled rather than staying vertical.

If your pipes are bursting, cracks are suddenly appearing in your foundation, and your windows won’t open, it's time to call in a professional. Foundation repair companies can locate the problem area beneath your house, excavate around the foundation’s footing, and install screws similar to those used to lift a car with a flat tire. These screws are anchored into bedrock or compact soil and provide additional support for the foundation. Additionally, leaning subterranean foundation walls can be anchored and gently pulled back into plumb.

Of course, if your home has been inspected and no clear signs of settlement are found, but you still hear strange noises at night, it might just be time to call a paranormal investigator.

For more information on home repairs, ghosts, and other related topics, visit the next page.