Your home’s foundation serves as its proverbial bedrock, but it can be susceptible to seasonal changes and fluctuations in the weather. Corpus Christi, along with many other areas of Texas, can experience extreme weather conditions (including different wet and dry seasons). When they’re combined with the clay soil, these extremes can wreak havoc on your foundation (which can threaten your home’s structural integrity). Variations in weather and temperature that occur throughout the year can affect even the sturdiest foundations, but it’s often overlooked by many homeowners.
How Seasonal Changes and Expansive Clay Soils Can Damage Your Foundation
Corpus Christi has a great deal of expansive clay soil, which is more susceptible to wet and dry conditions. That’s why it’s often referred to as “swelling and shrinking soil.” Think of it as like a giant sponge, which expands as it gets wet and contracts when it dries out. Expansive clay soil can damage homes, roads, and other structures (with repair bills that come to about $2 billion each year). Expansive clay soil expands and contracts based on the amount of moisture within it, so it’s moving and shifting every time it’s saturated or dried out. As it moves, your home’s foundation moves and shifts along with it.
Throughout the year, the Texas soil will experience either a wet climate or a dry one. It can also experience severe weather conditions (such as heavy rain and flooding brought on by tropical storms). When there’s too much rain, the soil around and under your foundation will become saturated. But it will dry out when the opposite is true. Periods of dry weather can cause the Corpus Christi soil to harden and shrink, and your foundation will move along with it. Wet clay soil will become saturated, which will also cause foundation movement.
All of these scenarios can cause the following:
- Cracked or sloped foundations.
- Cracks in floors, walls, or ceilings.
- Structural damage.
Be sure to speak to a foundation expert for more information.
Why You Should Worry About Foundation Issues Caused by Seasonal Changes
Your home may be your castle, but it’s not built like a fortress. It’s made stable by a concrete foundation, which can weaken over time. It’s often caused by shifting soil. The extreme weather that Corpus Christi can experience throughout the year can cause the soil to shift, and it can eventually lead to foundation issues.
Concrete foundations don’t hold up well when they’re under the stress of shifting soil. They can end up lifting and cracking. If it’s extensive enough, your home can even settle or sink. Shifting soil can not only cause vertical and horizontal cracks but can also damage the plumbing systems that run under your slab.
This kind of damage can cause moisture and water to seep into your living space, which can eventually lead to mold and infestations. It can also cause the drywall to crack, along with sticking doors and windows. It can even lead to structural damage that will make your home unsafe to live in. You may not notice the damage at any given year, but there’s a cumulative effect. So, serious issues can develop over time.
How You Can Protect Your Foundation from Seasonal Changes
You can’t control the weather or the soil around your home, but there’s a great deal you can do to minimize the damage caused by weather and shifting soil. Some of them include the following:
- Properly grading the yard and the soil around your foundation to make sure water flows away from your home.
- Installing a French drain or basin system to draw water away from your foundation.
- Maintaining consistent moisture levels in the soil around your foundation by using soaker hoses.
- Planting deep-rooted trees and shrubs away from your foundation to absorb excess moisture.
- Using moisture barriers or foundation waterproofing to prevent water infiltration.
- Inspecting and repairing foundation cracks on a regular basis to prevent water seepage.
- Consulting with a professional to assess your foundation and implementing any repairs or reinforcements as needed.
- Addressing any plumbing leaks to prevent fluctuations in the soil moisture near your foundation.
If you’re already experiencing problems, you will need to contact a professional to stabilize your foundation. You may even need to install piers or underpinnings for crawlspace repair. If you’re looking for one of the best places for foundation repair in Corpus Christi, be sure to get in touch with Streem Foundation Repair. We have a team of experts who would be happy to speak with you about your specific needs.