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Generally, you can tell if a home is bolted to the foundation by checking the foundation for plates. If you see that your foundational plates connect to wood or bolts protruding from them, this means that you have a bolted foundation. However, it's always wise to bring a home inspector in to confirm if your foundation is secure.

If you’re building new construction or adding onto your existing home, hiring a structural engineer is not only worth it but it’s probably required by your local building department. Structural engineers will ensure you aren’t making your home unsafe in the building process, which is crucial from a safety perspective but also a legal one. It’s also worth hiring a structural engineer if you’re making changes to structural components, like removing a load-bearing wall.

Yes, you can put a doorway in a structural wall; in fact, most exterior doors are set into structural walls. The project is a little more challenging than installing a door in a non-load-bearing wall because you need a structural engineer to assess the wall and make sure it’s safe to create a wall opening. Your engineer’s report will include instructions for your contractor on how and where to install additional supports, like steel headers above the door, to distribute the weight above to the wall on either side of the door.

Many horizontal cracks in home foundations result from water and soil pressure from outside of the building or from a footing that is shifting. Under those circumstances, horizontal cracks are a structural problem that requires repair before they become worse and more difficult to fix. However, in very specific cases, thin horizontal cracks may simply be a cosmetic blemish due to concrete shrinkage.