During a home inspection this morning, we discovered that the home required more than $20k in foundation repairs due to differential
settlement. This expense might have been avoided by simply watering the soil next to the foundation.
Why Foundations Need Watering
Your house isn’t a plant, it doesn’t need water to grow and it won’t eventually produce a seed pod that will grow another house. However, it is set into the ground and requires the soil beneath it to be stable so that the foundation remains flat. Most of the time, this isn’t a problem and you shouldn’t need to worry about that enormous concrete slab under your house. Droughts, however, are the exception. When clay soil dries out it contracts, creating less surface area for the foundation to rest on, and the foundation sinks. You may discover this damage yourself, or it may come to light during a home inspection.
Sometimes the soil will not have contracted evenly, so the foundation will sink to different levels and sometimes in different directions. This can cause cracks as the foundation tries to move in multiple directions at once. Then, when the soil gets moist again, it expands and pushes the foundation back into place. This can either close the cracks or make them worse by expanding them unevenly.
When to Water Your Foundation
There is, in fact, one sure-fire way to know that it’s time to water your foundation and that’s to perform a home inspection of your own. Look at the line between the soil in your yard and the foundation itself. Normally, if the soil is moist and expanded, the soil should press against the foundation. However, if it’s about time to water, you’ll see that the soil and any plants on it have pulled away from the foundation creating a space you could slip fingers or a hand into. This means the soil is getting too dry and has begun to contract.
How to Water Your Foundation
The good news is that watering your foundation isn’t hard at all. You can do it actively or passively depending on the equipment and skills you have for the task as your goal is simply to moisten the soil around and under your house so that it expands and continues to support the foundation. The best way is to plant some leafy shrubs, flowers, or other greenery along the foundation line and simply water them all year. The next easiest answer is a soaker hose (one with lots of small holes) along your foundation line turned on once a day or set on a timer like sprinklers. Finally, you could always just spray down the area around your foundation daily during especially dry weeks.
Doing a home inspection frequently and caring for your foundation is an important job, but it doesn’t have to be a hard one. If it’s been raining regularly and the ground outside is moist and springy, there’s no need to worry about your foundation. You only need to water when it’s dry enough for the soil to pull away from the concrete.
If you live in Overland Park, Johnson County or the Greater Kansas City Metro and have concerns about the condition of your foundation, contact Gordon & Associates to schedule a professional home inspection. Call or text 913-207-2769 or fill out our online request form. We look forward to helping you keep your home in a beautiful and stable condition for years to come!