Fun Facts: Years ago, most foundation damage was caused by settlement. As the result of improved construction practices used by home builders, more foundation damage is now cause by swelling soils than by settling soils.
How do you know if you have swelling soils? There are some easy signs to look for. The best indicator is the condition of the streets in your area. When there are swelling soils, streets quickly become uneven. Swelling soils will cause streets to develop a lot of humps and bumps. As streets move, they crack.
The same conditions that affect your streets will also affect your driveway. If your driveway is breaking into pieces and or the panels are becoming uneven, this is often a sign of expansive soils. If your driveway is higher than your garage, it will not be because your house is sinking. Almost always this problem is caused by a driveway being lifted up by swelling soils. We have seen driveways that were 6 inches higher than the garage! When this happens, it is time for our top-quality foundation repair for swelling soils in Dallas.
During dry periods, swelling soils will shrink as they dry out. So, another excellent sign of swelling soils is when big cracks show up during dry periods. Sometimes, cracks in the soil caused by droughts can go down 20 feet.
If you have swelling soils, there are 2 things that you should do. First, make sure you have good drainage. Keeping your yard well drained will help to prevent soils from soaking up too much water. Second, during the summer, use soaker hoses around your house to keep the soils from drying out and shrinking. The goal is to keep the amount of water in the soil more or less constant. When the soils don’t move, your house won’t move!
If you need foundation repair for swelling soils in Dallas, call us at Advanced Foundation Repair. Our evaluations include preparing a foundation survey and a contour diagram!