What Can Cause Wall Failure?

What Can Cause Wall Failure?  

Many homeowners might not realize how much pressure the soil around your home can affect your homes foundation walls. This is why it is important to understand the amount of pressure varies depending on the type of soil around the home, the amount of moisture, and how deep the foundation is under the ground. 

Here are three ways reasons why your soil is impacting the foundation of your home. 

1. Hydrostatic Pressure
   •  Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure that water exerts on an object due to gravity. Simply put, when water saturates the foundation surrounding your home, this creates pressure that is forced against the basement walls.
2. Frost
   • During the winter, frost can put pressure on a wall, causing it to fail, especially if the basement is unheated. Frost forces can be extremely powerful and can even lift part of the foundation off the ground, causing significant damage and expenses to the home.
3. Clay Soil
   • The amount of moisture in the ground increases and decreases continuously. This means that the soil surrounding your home is constantly shrinking and expanding. When the clay soil expands, this puts a lot of pressure on the basement walls which results in the walls pushing inward.

To recap, these are three ways that the soil surrounding your home can negatively affect the walls supporting your home. This pressure that can impact your home is most often created by hydrostatic pressure, frost, or clay soil. All homeowners should make sure they are aware of the threats this can place on the structure of your home and to take action right away!

Team Woods aims to educate homeowners about potential issues to help with prevention and corrective action when trouble appears.

At Woods Basement Systems, we have experts that can fix any basement need. To set up a free, no-obligation estimate, give us a call at 1-800-638-7048.