The Potential Dangers of Flooding to Your Foundation
Water is the nemesis of any structure. Once it gets into your property, it can cause significant damage to its foundation and safety, which can cost a lot to repair. These days, as the weather intensifies and flooding becomes more common, equipping your home with effective waterproofing is imperative to give it the best line of defence. To learn about the dangers of flooding to your foundation and what steps you can take to safeguard your home, read on.
Hydrostatic Pressure
You might not pay much attention to the eavestrough system along your roof. But it plays an important role when it comes to protecting your foundation and home from flooding. Clogged eavestroughs that overflow and cause pooling water near the base of the foundation can wreak havoc on your property, leading to many issues. Hydrostatic pressure is one of them. When moisture collects and permeates through the soil around your property, it creates hydrostatic pressure against the foundation. When this happens, it can lead to leaks in your foundation, flooding, and it can cause dangerous cracks and bows to form in the foundation walls.
Expanding Soil
When water floods and gets absorbed into the soil, it alters and increases the volume of the soil. When this occurs and the soil expands, it places additional pressure against the foundation walls and floors, pushing it and causing cracks to develop. When that excess moisture dries out, the soil shrinks back down. This process can continue to occur as the moisture levels in the ground fluctuate due to melting snow or accumulating rainfall. Eventually, it can place the structure of the foundation and home under stress, leading to more severe damage over time as it continues.
Foundation Settlement
Like many foundational problems, foundation settlement is something that can happen without you even knowing about it until more obvious issues arise. Water that collects in large volumes and frequently can cause soil erosion around your home. This can literally weaken the ground that supports the foundation of your property. Over time this can lead to uneven floors, serious cracks and bows in the flooring, as well as issues with doors and windows sticking or struggling to close. Titling chimneys and crack along the walls are also common signs of this.
How to Prevent Flooding to Your Foundation
Keep an Eye Out for Signs of Damage
As a homeowner, it’s important to keep a close eye in and around your home for potential warning signs. We recommend performing regular walkarounds inside and outside to look for any new cracks, sticking doors or windows, shifting floors, moisture or musty odours in the basement. If you do notice any of these red flags, don’t ignore them. Foundational problems will only worsen if they are ignored, leading to serious safety hazards for you and your family. Potential problems can also affect the value of your property if you ever plan on selling. As soon as you identify any signs, call in an expert to have a look.
Get Your Foundation Repaired and Waterproofed
Foundation experts can perform any necessary repairs and waterproofing to protect your home from future flooding. Each waterproofing process will differ based on the size of the property, as well as a range of other factors like underground utilities.
Our team at the Foundation Experts have helped thousands of homeowners throughout the Ottawa area, addressing their concerns and problems with the foundation – and we can help you too! Whenever we take on a waterproofing project, we tailor our services to ensure that the best solution is implemented to achieve the most effective results for your home. Whatever the problem may be, we have the experience and knowledge to identify the source and create a solution that works for you and your home.
When it comes to protecting your family and home, you need the best foundation experts by your side to make sure everything is safe and sound. If you notice any signs of damage or have recently experienced a floor in your home, contact us! We’ll send someone out to perform an inspection to offer their professional recommendations for repairing and protecting your property in the future.