Maintaining Your Lawn Helps Preserve your Foundation

Water pooling near your foundation can lead to structural issues that may put your entire home at risk. When expansive clay soil around and under your foundation absorbs too much water or moisture, it can expand considerably. This expansion can cause the soil to push against the foundation of your home, while also moving it upwards. All this movement may lead to differential settlement, which may cause further problems, such as cracks in the foundation and walls, uneven floors, and windows and doors that no longer close properly.

If water continues to accumulate near and under your foundation, the soil may also start to erode. Soil erosion is a serious issue because it can take away some of the support your foundation needs in order to carry your home’s weight. As a result, differential settlement could occur. Furthermore, soil erosion may lead to underground voids, which can result in sinkholes. Unlike differential settlement, which tends to cause damage that is readily apparent, sinkholes aren’t visible to the naked eye. However, sinkhole activity comes along with a few signs and landscape changes that you should keep an eye out for especially if you live in a sinkhole-prone area.

If you’ve recently noticed standing water near your home, there are a few simple measures you could take this spring in order to correct the problem or, at least, prevent it from getting worse. The first thing you need to do is identify the root cause of the problem, which could be the result of poor drainage, broken sewer lines, plumbing/pool leaks, or a combination of any of these factors. To protect your property from further damage, it’s important to make all the repairs necessary and take any corrective measures required as soon as possible.

Standing water next to your home’s foundation may also result from improper grading. Improper grading refers to negative grading, which basically means that your home is situated at a lower elevation than the surrounding land. This can cause water to flow towards your home, leading to water accumulation near your foundation. To correct this problem, you may need to re-grade the soil around your home so that it slopes away from your foundation. You could also consider installing a drainage system to divert water away from your foundation.