Foundation Maintenance in Texas
Are you concerned about your foundation? Do you have distress? Are you just interested in determining the best way to maintain your foundation? We can help analyze, educate, and provide answers to help maintain your foundation properly.
Appropriate foundation maintenance can help limit foundation movement related to shrinking and swelling clay soils for residences and commercial buildings. The following recommendations are crucial to helping maintain consistent moisture content and limiting movement:
- Water the foundation year round. Allow the water to trickle in consistently, 2-3 times per week. A drip irrigation line is the best way to water around the entire foundation without wasting water. Use drip irrigation line for approximately 45 minutes each area. Check the time for volume of flow and adjust to fit your needs.
- Maintain an even slope around the entire foundation to direct inconsistent water away from the foundation and supporting soils.
- Install gutters to capture and re-direct roof runoff away from the foundation. Extend downspouts at least 5 feet in solid pipe.
- Keep trees away from the foundation. Trees can create a massive amount of movement from transpiration by contributing to dry, shrunken soil. Close trees may be candidates for root barrier installation.
- Be leery of “quick guaranteed” repairs. Often the quick fixes do not address why the movement has occurred and may trade one problem for another!
An inspection by a Professional Engineer can often pinpoint the suspected cause, check for failure of a foundation, and offer insight regarding the most appropriate way to deal with any issues.