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Bowed basement walls

Posted Mar 17, 2021 in Waterproofing, Bowing Walls

Bowed basement walls

Bowed base­ment walls in a home are a seri­ous issue. They often affect the struc­tur­al strength of the foun­da­tion and low­er the pos­si­ble over­all resale val­ue of the home. Bow­ing or buck­ling of the base­ment walls indi­cates a mois­ture prob­lem around the home’s perime­ter. The wet con­di­tions may be due to inad­e­quate yard drainage, nat­ur­al cli­mat­ic changes, flood­ing or chron­ic leaky pipes.

All hous­es under­go a cer­tain amount of set­tling dur­ing the home’s lifes­pan but bowed walls indi­cate more than a sim­ple set­ting. They are usu­al­ly a symp­tom of a mois­ture prob­lem in and around the home’s foun­da­tion and base­ment walls. Moist soil press­es lat­er­al­ly and shifts around the base­ment walls and foun­da­tion. Even­tu­al­ly, the weight of the wet and fre­quent­ly shift­ing soil exceeds the wall’s capac­i­ty to with­stand the pres­sure which caus­es the wall to bow, crack or buck­le from the force. This sit­u­a­tion occurs when the sur­round­ing soil con­tains exces­sive amounts of clay that become water laden or from typ­i­cal Chicagoland sea­son­al frost expan­sion cycles that are a part of the mid­west weath­er changes.

Any dam­age that a base­ment wall or foun­da­tion expe­ri­ences should always be fixed prompt­ly to pre­vent any com­pro­mise to the home’s over­all struc­tur­al sta­bil­i­ty. Once the sit­u­a­tion is rec­ti­fied, it is time to address the under­ly­ing cause of the bowed walls — which is moisture.

At Fam­i­ly Water­proof­ing Solu­tions, we will eval­u­ate the mois­ture in your base­ment, crawl­space and the sur­round­ing area. Our pro­fes­sion­als will work with you to cre­ate a dry envi­ron­ment in and around your home. Con­tact us today for your free estimate.



About the Author

Maria Kirchner, founder of Family Waterproofing, is a waterproofing expert with extensive hands-on experience in basement waterproofing, concrete raising, and moisture prevention. Passionate about staying ahead through annual training, she shares practical tips on her blog to empower homeowners—like tackling sinking slabs with polyurethane foam for quick, cost-effective fixes. Her customer-first approach has earned hundreds of 5-star reviews, helping families protect their homes with confidence. Connect with Maria for personalised advice: Contact Us.

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What our customers say

  • We con­tract­ed Fam­i­ly Water­proof­ing Solu­tions for exte­ri­or wall seal­ing and foun­da­tion crack repair ser­vices. Ken was very thor­ough in explain­ing the work that would be done, and his crew did a great job. This busi­ness was a plea­sure to work with.

    Stacie T.

  • Thank you for final­ly get­ting rid of my flood­ing prob­lem. I had almost resigned myself to liv­ing with the Black Lagoon in my base­ment. You were able to iden­ti­fy the real prob­lem with my leak by using some empir­i­cal evi­dence rather than guess­ing and charg­ing me for fan­tas­ti­cal projects. Above all, you talked to me as if l am an intel­li­gent per­son instead of ​“the lit­tle lady” who needs her hus­band to make a deci­sion. Final­ly, the extent and care of your pro­pos­al, with its exten­sive pic­tures, con­vinced me that you are an hon­est bro­ker. My base­ment stayed dry despite the recent tor­ren­tial rains. I would be hap­py to rec­om­mend your work.

    Paris

  • Work­man­ship and ser­vice were excel­lent. Would rec­om­mend with­out reservation.

    Ed

  • You and your crew did a great job in our base­ment and crawl­space. You went the extra mile to insure that all of our water seep­age prob­lems are over. We would rec­om­mend you high­ly to oth­er peo­ple. Your qual­i­ty and time­ly work out­match­es all the others.

    William