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Facts about bowing basement walls

Posted Jul 01, 2024 in Waterproofing, Bowing Walls

You may have noticed that the walls in your base­ment are bulging and bow­ing inward. This is a com­mon prob­lem with poten­tial­ly seri­ous con­se­quences. Bow­ing base­ment walls are a sure sign that they are becom­ing weak. If ignored, bow­ing walls can lead to cracks, crum­bling, col­lapse and even threat­en the struc­tur­al integri­ty of your entire home.

The cause of base­ment walls bowing

There are many out­side forces that con­tribute to the bow­ing of base­ment walls. It is a symp­tom of exces­sive exte­ri­or stress­es that include:

1. Slop­ing Lawns

Slop­ing lawn can pile tons of heavy soil on your foun­da­tion, mak­ing your inte­ri­or base­ment walls bow inward.

2. Patios and Driveways

Brick and con­crete are extreme­ly heavy, and if placed near your base­ment walls, they can cause them to bow.

3. Rainy Weather

Some­thing as sim­ple as the weath­er can cre­ate bow­ing base­ment walls. When the soil around your base­ment walls becomes sat­u­rat­ed with water, either from gen­er­al rain­fall or runoff from clogged gut­ters, it becomes very heavy. This is turn intro­duces more stress on the base­ment walls, caus­ing them to bow.

4. Leaky Pipes

Like with rain­wa­ter, plumb­ing leaks can sat­u­rate the soil around your foun­da­tion with water and cause wall bowing.

5. Trees

Roots from trees plant­ed too close to your home will press against your base­ment walls and cause bowing.

Pre­vent­ing base­ment wall bowing

To keep some of the stress off your base­ment walls, keep gut­ters clear, plumb­ing main­tained, and remove trees plant­ed with­in ten feet of your house. If pos­si­ble, also avoid pour­ing any con­crete or build­ing brick patios too close to your home’s foun­da­tion. These sug­ges­tions will help keep your base­ment walls from bow­ing and bulging. How­ev­er, while main­tain­ing your home and its sur­round­ings are essen­tial, there is noth­ing you can do about things like rain, heavy soil and slop­ing lawns. For that rea­son, you may con­sid­er get­ting your base­ment walls rein­forced with car­bon fiber strips. Car­bon fiber is tough, durable and stronger than steel by a fac­tor of five. It is a def­i­nite must to pro­tect your home from dan­ger­ous struc­tur­al con­di­tions like base­ment wall bow­ing. For best results and peace of mind, con­tact your friends at Fam­i­ly Water­proof­ing Solu­tions (708) 330‑4466 or sched­ule a free esti­mate on bow­ing wall ser­vices. Pro­tect your home today!