Signs of Water Damage to Your Foundation
WHERE DOES THE WATER COME FROM?
Water, including rain and melting snow and ice, can drain off your roof. If your gutters are in disrepair or damaged, that water will run right down the side of your home and into the soil that surrounds your foundation. You might also get water that runs down sloped landscaping. If you have loose or backfilled soil, it can settle and create a depressed area for water to collect and pool.
The pooled water creates hydrostatic pressure. As the amount of water around your home arrives and evaporates, that pressure can cause your foundation to shift back and forth, ever so slightly. Over time, this stresses the structure of your foundation, creates stress, and causes fissures. As your foundation cracks, more water can enter your home and seep into every pore in the cement.
INTERIOR SIGNS
Water damage affects the interior and exterior of your home. Some of the interior signs of water damage to your foundation include:
- Cracks in the walls or floor of your basement
- Peeling paint in your basement
- Sinking cellar floors
- A musty smell
- Mold
If you have a basement that floods, it’s not necessarily a sign of foundation damage, but it increases your risk of foundation damage.
You may also notice signs throughout the rest of your home, including doors that don’t close correctly or gaps around your window frames. Your floors may also become uneven.
EXTERIOR SIGNS
If your home looks like it’s sinking, you probably have foundation damage. Foundation upheaval makes your foundation slabs shift upwards. When the soil that surrounds your home expands and contracts as it absorbs and loses water, it can shift your foundation.
You may also notice cracks in the exterior of your home or sunken areas of soil around your home.
WATER DAMAGE PREVENTION
Foundation damage is serious and requires professional repair that’s often expensive. So the Trusted Vets offer home restoration treatments to protect your foundation and prevent damage from occurring in the first place. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Taking care of your roof and gutters is critical to protecting the foundations of your home. The team at Trusted Vets Restoration provides expert roofing repairs and replacements. A leaky or damaged roof allows water to penetrate your home or drip down its sides to seep into the foundation.
Whether you have an asphalt shingle roof or slate tile, the team carefully repairs or replaces roofs to protect your home. They use only the highest quality products, and the entire team is committed to delivering outstanding customer service. They treat your home as if it were their own.
Additionally, the team installs seamless gutters. Seamless gutters reduce your risk of leaks. They’re custom made to fit your home, available in a variety of colors, and are less noticeable overall. Routine gutter cleaning and maintenance extends the life of your gutters and protects your home.
Sometimes, though, you may need to have work done on the ground level in order to ensure that water moves away from your foundation. Some have decided to install a French drain, which could also be connected to the gutter of their home through a downspout, to achieve this purpose. However, this may not be the ideal option for everyone since the type of soil and drainage in your area could cause the French drain to do more harm than good. If you have more loose dirt that doesn’t retain water well, your property drains well, and you experience frequent moderate to heavy rains, a French drain could be a good option.
Seamless gutters, though, could be just what you need to get heavy rains from the roof to the ground and prevent water from seeping into your foundation and causing damage to the interior and exterior of your home.
