Winter can cause damage to homes. The most serious of damage can occur to your home’s foundation. With an existing foundation issue, you can expect additional damage during the winter months. Snow, ice and rain, will accelerate the existing foundation damage. This will lead to major repair costs. Avoid major repair costs now. Get your foundation inspected. Repair all damage, before it gets worse. The money you spend today, will save you bigger dollars in the future. Get your foundation inspected and repaired today.
Protect Your Foundation
The foundation is arguably the most important part of the home. The integrity of the entire structure depends on how well the foundation is built and maintained. The consequences of a damaged foundation can be severe. From simple repairable cracks to damaged sheetrock or malfunctioning windows, these repairs cost money. Regardless of the cause, prompt repair can avoid more serious damage and repair costs.
Problems with foundations can extend damage to other parts of your home. The damage has a tendency to compound. Over time, you expect additional home repair issues. These issues will need additional and more complicated repairs. Additional repairs mean additional dollars for repairs. Address all foundation problems as soon as possible. Immediate repair action, can save you big money down the road.
Look Out For Cracks
It is not uncommon for hairline cracks to develop over the course of the year. This occurs naturally as the foundation begins to settle into the ground. However, in the winter these hairline cracks, can become larger. With winter you can additional moisture. This moisture penetrates any foundation cracks and can freeze. When moisture freezes, it expands. With expansion, the foundation crack becomes bigger. As winter progresses, this cycle repeats. The repetition only increases the size of the crack. This means problems for you, the homeowner. Repair all foundation cracks immediately. Get your foundation inspected and repaired today.
Keep the Water Flowing
If you’re basement is unfinished and uninsulated it’s also important to consider the condition of any mechanical elements you may have there. We all know that frozen pipes are a huge issue in the winter, so this is an obvious place to start. It’s possible that you may have both supply and waste lines running through your basement, both of which can freeze. You can prevent the supply lines from freezing by ensuring that the pipes themselves are insulated, the temperature in the basement is kept reasonably warm, and that the water doesn’t sit in the pipes for too long.
Earth Moving
Another thing that your foundation could fall victim to is “frost-heave”. Frost heaving is ultimately caused by ice and operates by the same principal as the problem cause by water getting into cracks; water expands as it freezes. As moisture in the ground freezes, it causes upward movement of the soil as the frozen soil consumes more and more water from below. The process is extremely powerful and is also to reason for many potholes and even some land formations.
Putting a foundation in this context is essentially placing an immovable object in the path of an unstoppable force. Only in this case, the immovable object moves. If you know that the ground around your home is frozen, it’s a good idea to regularly inspect your foundation by looking for cracks of any size.
Thawing Out
Even after you make it through the winter, the problems can still continue. Often, what follows the snowy season is the mud season. Once it gets warm, all the snow on the ground has to melt. When it melts, it has to go somewhere. This means that the ground around your home is absorbing a massive amount of water. Potentially an entire season’s worth of snow. Your home may be equipped with a French drain system, which will help direct the water where you want it to go and keep it away from where you don’t.
If your foundation does not have a drainage system, you’ll want to make sure that your sump pump is in working order and keep a close eye on the walls and floors, looking for signs of any water intrusion.
Contact Dirt Connections Today
For any additional information on winter effects on foundations or other commercial foundation repair services or commercial asphalt paving services in Fairfax, VA, please call or contact Dirt Connections online today or call us directly. We are ready to assist you with any questions you might have before you start your next project! Get your foundation inspected and repaired.
