As much as you hate to admit it, you have a foundation problem.  You noticed that doors had gone out of line in your home and that windows were sticking and took all your strength to open or close. 

Whiting, IN is one of the smaller towns in northwest Indiana with a population of around 5,000 but it is known widely around the region for an event that takes place there each July.  Pierogi Fest, a three-day celebration centered around the traditional eastern European dumpling, draws crowds to Whiting every summer that dwarf the population, sometimes as many as 200,000 over the long weekend.

Skokie, IL was once known as the “World’s Largest Village,” and, although that moniker is no longer used, the town’s nearly 65,000 residents in 10 square miles make up a sizeable community, if not the “world’s largest.”                         

“There’s water in the basement!”

Carbon fiber is an amazing material.  It’s incredibly strong and unbelievably light and it has been replacing steel, aluminum and other metals in a variety of applications.  A carbon fiber bicycle, for example, is so light it can be easily lifted with two fingers yet it is the choice of professionals for grueling multi-day races.  In cars, carbon fiber is showing up as everything from body parts to wheels and Boeing has recently introduced its 787 Dreamliner, an aircraft that is 50% carbon fiber.

Burlington, WI, is known as “Chocolate City U.S.A.” and visitors to the town on the banks of the Fox River don’t wonder why for very long, especially if their car windows are open.  The smell from the Nestle chocolate plant, long a mainstay of local industry, leaves no doubt that everybody’s favorite candy plays a big role in life in Burlington.

Palatine, IL can trace its official history back to 1866 when a village was first incorporated but its real beginnings were 30 years earlier when the first European settler, George Ela, built a log cabin in the wooded area then known as Deer Grove.  Before that, only two Native American trails, now Rand and Algonquin roads, brought people through the area and it was largely untouched woods and prairie.

Boy, did it rain!  The Chicago area had one of its heaviest rains ever in spring of 2013, with parts of the city and suburbs getting as much as seven inches of rain in one 24-hour period.  Streets flooded, traffic and public transit ground to a halt and a few cars disappeared into sinkholes.

One smart thing a homeowner can do when a house is suspected of having a settling foundation or other type of structural foundation damage is to arrange an inspection with a consulting engineer.  Consulting engineers are experienced professionals who provide their technical services for hire for businesses and homeowners to make assessments of damages and recommend courses of action.

Schererville, IN calls itself the “Crossroads of the Nation” and with good reason.  In its earliest days, long before settlement as a town, what is now called Schererville was known as “Crossroads” for the major Native American trails that intersected there.  These trails later became routes for wagon trains as they carried settlers to the West.