Maintenance after Foundation Repair

Maintenance

1. Provide positive drainage away from the perimeter of your home. No standing water can be allowed to puddle next to the foundation. This starts with a positive ground slope away from the house, keeping a minimum of 6 feet of positive water flow away from the foundation. When positive slope away from the foundation is not possible due to property conditions or if heavy rains cause water to back-up to the foundation, we can install surface drains and/or French drains to the required areas. Most people think of French drains as their first solution but in reality, these systems are better suited for ground water and surface drains are better for surface flowing water caused by heavy rains. Surface drains are typically cheaper to install than French drains too. Surface drains consist of buried collector boxes with drain grates and buried solid pipes that will drain the water towards the street or appropriate drain field. Collector boxes can also incorporate sump pumps to mechanically pump water if there is no way to have natural gravity work for the drain. French drains, named after the person who invented them and not the country, are trenches having a perforated pipe at the bottom that will collect below grade water and allow it to flow away from an area. These systems are more expensive because of the amount of trenching, the disposal of the soil and the backfilling of the trench with gravel plus the fabric barrier or sock for the pipe so soil does not fill the perforated pipe. We can provide you with a property drainage plan that is right for your particular property and a proposal to do the job.
   
2. Install roof gutters and proper down spouts. Many clients have roof gutters and that is great. The problem is they allow all the captured water of the roof to drain into down spouts that are not directed away from the home. Keep all down spouts draining into a pipe or channel that keeps the rain water away from the home by at least six to ten feet and flowing positively away from the foundation. All homes in central Texas should have roof gutters and proper down spouts as part of their foundation stabilization program.
   
3. How high is your home above the ground? The ground around your home should be at least six inches below the slab height of the home. Flower beds should maintain a positive slope away from the foundation and be at least four inches below the slab height. Pier & beam homes should have at minimum a 6 inch rise to the soil at the skirt line of the home.
   
4. Moisture maintenance of the property. This means to provide relatively consistent moisture content to the soil adjacent to the foundation. There are two active ways to do this; these include surface soaker hoses or below ground watering systems. Ground cover like grass or mulch works great to keep the soil from quick evaporation and should be maintained around the foundation as a passive method of moisture maintenance. Even though we recommend “Watering your foundation”, as some folks like to call it, this will not absolutely prevent future problems nor will it solve a current problem. But it goes a long way to slowing or possibly eliminating the problem in the future.
   
   The most common type of moisture maintenance is the soaker hose system. These work by soaking the ground from the surface. Below ground systems are not as common because they are more expensive to install and more invasive to an existing landscape but they do work better than the soaker hose method. With either system, use your knowledge of your property to provide different zones to the watering system. This means the more highly exposed to the sun one side of your home is, the more water it will need than an area always in the shade. Pay attention to different types of soil around the house and if there are large trees that will be taking the water as this will effect the amount of water required. The idea is to create consistent moisture content around the house so different sides of the home will require more or less water than another side. At minimum, you should have at least two different watering zones, but four or more zones would be better. The goal is to make the soil neutral, not too wet (soft, muddy) or not too dry (cracking, subsiding). Both systems should be about eighteen inches away from the house. Soaker hose systems work, but they can causes run-off and loss of water through evaporation, and the hoses are exposed and deteriorate in the sun and are annoying to mow or weed whack around. Below ground systems work better, as they concentrate less water to do more work. It is best to use automatically controlled valves, and not depend on manual activation.
   
   A couple of notes about soaker hoses: Long runs do not work well. Seventy five feet is the maximum run recommended and a pressure reducing unit down to just twelve pounds or a flow restricting washer at the hose attachment will make the hoses work better. During long dry spells, more attention to the moisture maintenance system will be required. What ever watering system is employed, you the home owner need to decide the actual amount of watering time that is needed to maintain a proper hydration of the soil. It is well worth the time and attention to do.
   
5. Tree roots are responsible for many foundation failures. Below the slab, ground moisture does not evaporate so there is moisture to feed thirsty tree roots. When trees take the moisture from below the slab, the soil can subside and loose volume causing foundation settlement. Trees use lots of water, more than most people imagine. Large hardwoods can take 150-200 gallons per day in the summer. Reducing the canopy of leaves helps reduce the amount of water loss from the trees therefore tree thirst is reduced. So, keeping your trees trimmed is a good idea. Water your trees on the opposite of the tree from your home, and supply plenty of water. That way you train the trees to drink away from the home. Tree root barriers are a good idea, especially if the tree is young but root barriers can be employed with mature trees too. We are happy to provide you a proposal to install root barriers and advise you on tree root solutions for your home.
   
6. Plumbing leaks: Periodic checks of the house’s water supply and the waist lines are needed as plumbing leaks are responsible for many foundation failures. A plumber can perform a hydrostatic check of all of your waste lines. Your home owner’s insurance may pay for this service if you expect there is a leak

Douglas Foundation Repair - 12510 Edwards Hollow Run - Austin, Texas 78739