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How to prevent bowing basement walls

Posted Jul 01, 2024 in Foundation Crack Repair

Water is one of the most pow­er­ful forces in the world. You only need to encounter bow­ing walls in your base­ment to under­stand how pow­er­ful water can be.

Bow­ing walls are a sign of water-relat­ed prob­lems with foun­da­tions. Base­ment walls bow inward when there is exces­sive mois­ture in the soil sur­round­ing the base­ment. The buildup of water in the soil results in an increase in hydro­sta­t­ic pres­sure. This pres­sure acts lat­er­al­ly against the foun­da­tion walls caus­ing them to bow inward.

How to pre­vent bow­ing walls

The key to pre­vent­ing bow­ing walls is to man­age water around the foun­da­tion of the build­ing. The fol­low­ing are some effec­tive and easy ways to keep exces­sive water away from your foundation:

1. Ensur­ing that you’ve prop­er­ly pitched the land around your home

Ensure that the land around your foun­da­tion slopes no less than 5 degrees away from the foun­da­tion. This allows for runoff from melt­ing snow and heavy rains to flow away from the foun­da­tion. It also pre­vents water from erod­ing the mor­tar joints and sat­u­rat­ing the ground near the foun­da­tion where it can cause hav­oc to the footing.

2. Main­tain your gutters

It is impor­tant to main­tain your gut­ters. Check to ensure gut­ters don’t sag and are clean and free of debris. This will ensure that you have the prop­er flow of water through the gut­ters and avoid gut­ters over­flow­ing. Down­spouts should direct water into drains that direct water away from the foun­da­tion of the home.

3.) Invest in cov­ers for your win­dow wells

If your home has win­dow wells, be sure to invest in win­dow well cov­ers. This will stop rain­wa­ter from enter­ing the win­dow wells and seep­ing into the soil around the foundation.

4.) Do not install asphalt or con­crete near the foun­da­tion of your home

Asphalt and con­crete are both imper­me­able sur­faces. It may seem wise to install them near the foun­da­tion of your home to pre­vent water from pen­e­trat­ing into the soil around your foun­da­tion, but it is actu­al­ly coun­ter­pro­duc­tive. Runoff from melt­ing snow or rain will flow along these hard sur­faces and accu­mu­late in any low areas near your foun­da­tion. Ensure that these hard sur­faces are installed not less than 4 feet away from the foun­da­tion of your home.

These tips will help you ensure that your foun­da­tion is kept safe from the destruc­tive force of hydro­sta­t­ic pres­sure. Be sure to speak to one of Fam­i­ly Water­proof­ing Solu­tions’ foun­da­tion experts at (708) 330‑4466 or sched­ule an appoint­ment about fur­ther steps to pro­tect your foundation.