How Rain Can Affect a Foundation?

Rain falling and house in the background

Though we love to see the disappearance of the winter season, the arrival of spring rain will cause problems. Your foundation can suffer from cracks, erosion, or even flooding or leakage. When your foundation needs support, make sure to call the experts of home foundation repair. What are the available foundation repair solutions?

New Cracks in Foundation

A cause to worry is fresh cracks around your foundation after loads of rain. It becomes heavy as the soil around the house gets saturated with water, and starts to press against the base that can cause cracks. Water, bugs, and pests may be let in through these holes. When left unchecked, they can cause bowing and leaning walls. Don't panic, though just call the experts for an estimate at Ramjack! We are pleased to search for any cracks in the base and decide whether they need repair.

How rain affects the foundations of the basement

In certain situations, heavy rain could be the offender for foundation damage, including slight damage to the foundation in the form of a small crack that can be easily caused by extreme rain. The small cracks are definitely minor damage, since they are not critical to the foundation of your house. Any small cracks, however may serve as an indicator that you have a problem with the foundation since they show that the presence of heavy rain pressure is exerted on the foundation whenever there is, which eventually get damaged over time. In addition, these cracks can also lead to water leakage in the home as groundwater can find the way into a home by various means, and that certainly includes minor foundation cracks.

A flooded and sub pumped crawlspace vapor barrior dirty job

Water in Crawlspace

Do not neglect it if you see water in your crawlspace or basement! You may think it's enough to clean it up and set up a fan, but sadly there can be bigger foundation issues hidden below the surface. We provide waterproofing services at Ramjack to avoid the entry of water into the home at all. However before carrying out any waterproofing, we still want to make sure that we get to the root of the problem. There will be base issues in most situations.

The water could come from somewhere else, like a poorly sealed window, if there are no foundation issues. It's always prudent to verify the foundation in this situation. Water is never anything to take lightly in the crawlspace or basement. When you see water in your basement or crawlspace, call Ram Jack for an estimate.

Settled Foundation

In addition to these minor issues with regard to foundation damage, there are major problems houseowners need to think about. One of the most severe issues that can and does sometimes arise is when as a result of heavy rainfall, the base goes through a serious sinking or settling. You are able to find several issues in your home as this occurs. The soil around and under the foundation starts to swell when heavy rains occur. This very same soil shrinks when dry weather is followed by heavy rain, leaving a chasm into which the base of your home falls.

In your foundation, what to look for

Signs you can look for that suggest that a serious settling has suffered from your home's foundation include cracks in the doors and windows, concrete floors or drywalls cracks, a leaning chimney, jammed or stuck doors and windows, cracks in your stair steps' bricks and of course, large cracks or heaves in your foundation.

See us at Ramjack by American Leveling for home foundation repair. In Oklahoma City, we have worked for hundreds of foundation repair and installation.

Brandon Shavers