Here's how you can Prevent Foundation Issues in your Home

• Wilting floors
• Shifting beams
• Cracking door frames
• Damp crawl spaces
• Mould & Mildew

The easiest way to protect your home’s foundation is by making sure to take advantage of gravity and spreading water away from your foundation. By grading gaffes, you can make sure the soil around your walls is sloped, so that water rolls down instead of pooling around your home.

Something else you can do is use a french drain system. Excess water will end up entering these pipes at the high end and will be redirected to the desired exit using a slightly graded slope. French drains require a slope of no less than 1% to be successful.

Using a timed sprinkler system may also be to your advantage. As it gets hotter during the day and the soil heats up, it shrinks and contracts. When soil is damp, it expands. This constant contracting and expanding can cause stress to the foundation and destabilize the walls of your home.

As we mentioned before, be proactive! What you want to do is install a timed sprinkler system to keep the proper water to soil ratio constant. 

A time set to water for about 30 minutes in the morning and in the evening should do the trick. Furthermore, you can have a rock bed installed. A rock bed would help the sprinkler system penetrate even deeper into the soil. Some experts recommend that in the hotter months, you water a bit more to make sure your soil isn’t getting too dry.

During the rainy season you want to make sure your gutters are not cluttered. For your home’s foundation to stay healthy, It’s crucial that runoff is diverted away from the house. Make sure your gutters are clear of leaves and dirt and that they’re securely attached to your foundation’s walls. If you really want to take it a step further, a good way is using extenders. 

Simply put, make sure that the water you’re trying to divert away from your home, isn't substituted by your sprinklers. When making sure your garden is watered, green, and beautiful, try to make sure your foundation isn’t being watered as well. Position your sprinklers so that they aren’t wetting your foundation’s walls, and if nothing else can be done, at least turn off your sprinklers on rainy days.

Trees and other plants with strong roots will not think twice about damaging your foundation. Roots are powerful and invisible. Throughout the years, they can cause severe damage to your foundation. During the dry season this can hasten the process as trees try to look for more water. 

It's common to find situations where trees grow big enough that they displace the soil surrounding a structure and penetrate the structure’s foundation. Make sure to plant any trees far enough so that no branches are close enough to touch the house.

Planning is key. When it comes to planning your foundation’s construction, always keep drainage in mind. Driveways, sidewalks, landscaping paths, need to be designed in a way that promotes drainage away from the foundation. 

Occasionally check your water meter level to make sure you’re not having any plumbing leaks. Plumbing leaks can be a major factor to the weakening integrity of your home's foundation.

Make sure your foundation isn't constructed on clay, silt, or peat as this can affect how the home settles.

Rock on the other hand, is an excellent support soil and provides depth and stability to your structure. Gravel or sand also works because it doesn't retain moisture. It will also stick together if compacted correctly. We recommend that compacted soil be embedded at a minimum of 2” below the brick line.

Putting everything we mentioned above into practice is a great way to be preventative when it comes to foundation damage and instability. With that said, it should be noted that no matter what you do to prevent foundation damage, issues may still arise. If they do, they should be tended to as soon as possible because small issues can quickly grow to be huge ones. Delaying on repair could result in very expensive repairs and time consuming. Thankfully we here at Worldwide Waterproofing are here to help! We’re only a call away and our experts will be there to help you remediate whatever structural issues you may be experiencing. Book your next appointment today!