What to Know About Foundation Damage

12/8/2021 (Permalink)

The foundation your house sits on is the most important part of your home’s structure. When people talk about what they’re doing to help prevent any water damage from affecting their homes, most would say they weren’t doing much of anything to protect their foundations. While ideally the way your house was built should help to mitigate any water damage from happening to your property’s foundation, this kind of damage can lead to cracks in the foundation and cause it to shift. This can weaken its structure and end up compromising the structural stability of your entire home. If you find yourself being one of those people we mentioned above, here are some tips to help prevent any water damage to your foundation:

Place a sump pump in your basement/make sure it functions properly – Sump pumps are designed to remove groundwater that has seeped into your foundation from around the property quickly so that it does not cause any damage. It is important to regularly inspect your pump and ensure it is working correctly so that when you need it no problems arise.

Clean your gutters and use downspouts – Cleaning your gutters is an important part of making sure your home is properly protected from water damage in many ways, but speaking for your foundation, a clean gutter will allow water to properly flow into your downspouts and AWAY from your property. Using downspouts to direct the water away from your foundation helps prevent it from pooling around your home and getting into the foundation to cause damage

Don’t let soil around your foundation completely dry out – This might sound slightly counterintuitive, however in times where there is little rain, and your soil is completely dried out it can shrink and cause gaps between it and the foundation. Then, when rain finally does come the soil can rapidly expand and put unexpected pressure on parts of your home’s foundation or pool in those gaps and get into the foundations structure and cause damage.

We hope you take advantage of these tips and that they help to prevent any water damage to the foundation of your home, but if you should find yourself with a basement full of water, or any other manor of water damage to your home we’re ready and waiting 24/7, 365 days a year to take your call.