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Five Main Causes of Foundation Failure

Rain pipeA property’s foundation is the base in which most structural damage can be found. Property foundation care is critical especially when it’s a residential property, and you want to keep your family safe with a solid roof over your head. Even a home that has a solid starting foundation can be beaten down by the area that surrounds it.

Understanding and preventing the causes of foundation failure can be key to seeing and recognizing problems with your property, and then finding a correct solution. The quicker you can attack problem areas, the better the future will hold for the foundation of your property.

Here are five causes of failure with your properties foundation:

  1. Soil Conditions are Poor – Sometimes this cannot be helped, depending on where you live. But if your property is properly backfilled and compacted, the stronger your soil will be in preventing potential foundation issues.
  2. Substandard Ground Preparation and Construction – If your property was not built upon compacted soil then that means the strength of the soil can be in question. The movement of fill dirt causes your soil’s integrity to become loose. A home built on these types of conditions can settle and heave, which in turn causes massive amounts of pressure changes in the foundation.
  3. Evaporation – In the southern states where there is high temperatures in the summer months the evaporation in the soil can shrink beneath the foundation. This creates voids in the soil and can cause sinking in the foundation.
  4. Plumbing – Lines from your bathroom or kitchen can become weak, crack or even break from the heaving or settling of the soil. Plumbing pipe leaks and pressure leaks can cause heaving floors due to the swelling from bad plumbing lines.
  5. Drainage – When you are trying to protect your foundation, you want the water to flow away from the property. But your garden or flower bed is attached to the property; it doesn’t always cause the water to leave the foundation, so the soil will move creating foundation issues.

If you see any foundation issues or want to make sure you aren’t causing damage to your foundation inadvertently contact the professionals at Ram Jack of Tennessee. Our experts will consult you on what can be done to protect and prevent, keeping your property in perfect conditions.