It helps to know a little about Texas soil to effectively safeguard your Dallas home from foundation problems. What is known as gumbo mud, or expansive soil is much of the region’s soil. Expanding during rainy seasons and contracting during dry seasons, expansive soil acts like a sponge. Putting enormous stress on your home’s foundation, this fluctuation can increase soil volume by more than 10%. Your home’s entire structure is put at risk of damage when shifting soil under and around your foundation can cause it to tilt or sink over time. There are several steps you can take to prevent the soil from soaking up too much water since you can’t very well move a home with a foundation that’s built on expansive soil. One of the best preventive measures is controlling the amount of water that collects on your property in fact. Today, we at DuraTech Texas would like to offer some tips to help you prevent the need for foundation repairs.
Keep the Slope of Your Landscape Away from Your House
To slope away from your home, landscaping should be graded. The ground should slope 6 inches for every 10 feet to keep water moving away from your foundation and prevent it from pooling on your property as a general rule. It’s important to check for any low or sunken spots around the perimeter of your foundation, the ground can shift and settle over time. Fill these in with dense soil as needed if you find any.
Routinely Clean Your Rain Gutters
It can’t effectively channel rainwater through the downspouts and away from your home when gutters are clogged with debris. Eventually seeping into it and causing moisture damage, water will pour over the sides and pool on the ground near your foundation instead. To ensure that they can divert rainwater properly, foundation experts recommend cleaning your gutters at least twice a year. Make sure the downspouts drain at least 10 feet from your home as well. Extend the downspouts if necessary.
Install French Drain System
A trench filled with gravel or rock and containing a perforated pipe that directs surface water away from the house is a French drain. Because they operate under the principle that water flows downhill and by the easiest route possible, French drains are particularly useful for homes built on hills or slopes. It flows freely through the pipe, which empties a safe distance from the house after water runs into the trench. You most likely need a French drain, whether due to pooling rainwater or a badly designed irrigation system if your lawn is frequently soggy or your driveway often floods.
If You have a Basement, Consider Installing a Sump Pump
Sometimes groundwater from oversaturated soil will seep into your basement, no matter how hard you try to prevent it. Designed to reduce below-ground saturation are sump pumps. They are usually placed underneath a basement floor or the floor of a crawl space. To prevent it from entering any cracks in the foundation and then directs the water away from the home, the pump collects groundwater.
Foundation Repair Services & More in Crosby, Cypress, Friendswood & Greater Houston, Texas
Though these steps can prevent foundation issues in most cases, you may still encounter as a problem as your home ages. If you suspect the foundation of your Houston, TX home is in need of repairs, call DuraTech Texas and let us assist you.