Now that the summer is solidly underway, it can feel like it’s “foundation damage season.” The hot, parched soil is pulling away from your foundation unless you actively counter the moisture loss, and some of your new spring foundation plants might not last the season. While shoring up your home’s foundation defenses is always a good idea, don’t just focus on your property. Think about home your neighbors or the surrounding area might be leading to foundation damage, too. Here are 3 Reasons to Install Drainage Solutions Along Your Fence
1. Your neighbor’s house is on a higher slope than yours.
Even in the suburbs, there are still hills and variations in soil height. While developers may have tried to create the perfect neighborhood drainage areas to counteract these problems, your house may still be downhill from where. That pushes water and soil onto your property. Excess water along your foundation can create unequal settling, and the extra pressure from new soil can knock the bottom of your fence out of position.
2. Surrounding drainage systems might be pushing water in your direction.
There are lots of DIY drainage solutions that are free for people to try. But many of those plans don’t alert people about the secondary harms of redirecting drainage or digging into the soil. If your neighbors are installing retaining walls or French drains, that’s going to change how effectively your own drainage systems work.
3. Neighboring construction projects can hurt your soil’s stability.
If someone is constructing a room addition, a basement, or an in-ground swimming pool nearby, that’s going to change how your soil drains and behaves. The soil pressure will change, and that will impact the settling rate at the side closest to the construction. While some settling is inevitable, the real damage happens when one corner of your house settles more than the other.
If you want to make sure your foundation is safe from general summer settling and neighborhood projects, contact us today to schedule an evaluation.