How Does Frozen Soil Affect a Home’s Foundation?
/In a climate that experiences frequent freezing and thawing throughout the year, foundation issues are very common with homes in the Niagara Region. As temperatures rise and fall regularly, it’s essential to understand how your home will be affected by frozen soil and what you can potentially do to prevent severe and long-term damage.
What is frost heaving?
These constant ups and downs of temperatures can be problematic for foundations, mostly due to frost heaving, which happens when soil freezes and thaws.
We may not think of it, but soil has a decent amount of water in it, and so when the temperature drops, the water in the soil will freeze, causing it to expand.
As the soil thaws, it will shrink back down, but that doesn’t mean it will shift back to where it was previously, which means the ground around your home is potentially shifting. This shifting can put a lot of pressure on your foundation.
Long-term, this pressure can lead to cracks and moisture issues around the foundation which can cause some damage to the foundation of your home.
How can you avoid the effects of frost heaving?
Since the Niagara Region falls squarely into a geographical area that experiences dramatic temperature changes, homes in this area are vulnerable to frost heaving.
There are a few things you can do to help prevent the effects of frost heaving and ensure your home’s foundation does not crack.
Make sure the base of the foundation is built well below the frost line – especially for homes that have a basement.
Add a drainage system around the foundation to keep moisture away from the house as the ground begins to thaw.
Make sure topsoil is graded away from the home’s foundation so that water will drain away from the house instead of pooling around the house.
Check the gutters to make sure water drains away, so there isn’t any extra water pooling around the foundation.
Insulate your foundation so that you can minimize the heat loss between the foundation and the surrounding soil, which could help lessen the impact of the freeze/thaw cycle on your foundation.
What happens if you notice a crack in your foundation?
Winters in the Niagara Region can be a little up and down, so if you have an older home, you may have noticed that there are some moisture issues in your basement.
There could be some micro-cracks in the foundation, or there could be a very obvious crack. Doing a walkaround inspection each year in the spring will help keep you aware of any problems that might need to be addressed. Remember, it is always best to address foundation issues before they become major problems.
Contact Foundation Fix today.
If you have noticed that there might be some issues with your foundation already, you can contact Foundation Fix to inspect the problem and recommend a solution.
