Month: November 2019

Unfortunately, much of Texas is built on expansive soil. This soil, with a high concentration of clay, holds water longer. As such, it expands when wet and it can shrink dramatically during dry periods. It is not the best soil for building a foundation on, but your home foundation can be just fine if you have proper drainage around your home. There are three parts that can help keep your foundation healthy.

Surface Drainage

Surface drainage controls how much water the soil around your home has a chance to absorb. Even non-expansive soil forms puddles as the soil becomes too saturated. However, surface drainage prevents excess water from being absorbed. The standard technique used to control surface water is grading. By forming small slopes around your foundation, the water rolls away from the foundation instead of pooling next to it. Unfortunately, over time this grading can degrade which will need to be addressed if you see water building up near it.

Gutters

The gutters on your home aren’t just to keep water from damaging your roof, they are crucial for your foundation. Your gutters ferry water away from your roof and to a downspout which then sends it away from your foundation. If it were left to fall naturally, it would drop almost right at your foundation and the force of the fall would severely erode your grading as well.

Subsurface Drainage

This is the last measure of defense against water. Many homes don’t actually need to go quite this far, but if you have had foundation problems in the past, you may need specific subsurface drainage installed. The installation of french drains or channel drains help to whisk excess water away before it can cause problems.

Do you have foundation problems or believe your new home may be at risk? Contact us today to see what Steady House Foundation Repair can do to fix your problems before they get any worse.

Do you potentially have a foundation problem in your home? We have all heard the horror stories about the cost of foundation repair. So it is easy to look at that potentially problematic foundation crack and take the wait and see option rather than having it repaired. However, this inaction will have consequences for your home, and some you may not expect. So what happens when you ignore foundation problems?

Insect and Rodents Infestations

Rodents and insects don’t often walk in the front door. Instead, they squeeze in small gaps around your home’s exterior. If your foundation is shifting and settling, it can create entrances for these small creatures.

Plumbing Problems

Small shifts in your foundation can easily damage the plumbing that is woven within it. Plumbing problems in slab foundations, for example, can go unnoticed for years, but will run up your water bill and will eventually cause more noticeable damage.

If these plumbing problems start to happen in your crawl space, they can also attract insect and rodents as well as grow mold and mildew.

Wall / Interior Damage

If left unchecked long enough, foundation problems will make themselves known in other ways. It could be a crack running up your drywall or basement walls starting to bow inwards. These mean serious foundation issues and once they happen, you have to repair the damaged interior as well.

Increased Repair Cost

One of the biggest reasons to get a potential foundation issue checked out is that the longer you leave it and the worse it gets means that it will be more expensive to repair. Those foundation repair cost horror stories come from homes that did nothing to repair foundation problems before they became catastrophes. If you spot it early, it costs only a fraction to repair it.

Do you have foundations problems? These problems only beget more problems that increase the cost of repair. If you want to catch and repair foundation problems early, contact us today.