Serving Hamilton, Oakville, Burlington and Southern Ontario
1-833-681-1822Backfill soil behaves differently than the unexcavated, "virgin soils" farther away from the foundation. Backfill soil typically absorbs more water and expands more, exerting pressure against the foundation.
Straight Talk About Foundation Soils
The soils around your foundation can put a lot of pressure on your foundation walls! The amount of pressure will vary depending three factors:
Since foundation walls are designed to support loads from above rather than lateral (sideways) loads, expanding soil can cause foundation problems.
When the pressure from outside the basement walls is greater than the wall can handle, the wall will begin to crack, bow, and push inwards.
Factors such as expansive clays, hydrostatic pressure, and freezing water can create too much stress on basement walls, causing them to push forward and even collapse entirely over time.
We can stop expansive foundation soils from damaging your foundation! Call us for a free foundation repair quote today!
We serve Oakville, Hamilton, Burlington, and many nearby areas in Ontario.
As water builds up in the soils around your foundation, hydrostatic pressure increases against your basement walls, potentially leading to damage.
When your home was being built, contractors had to dig a big hole in the ground. This was created to make space for your basement. They dug up mounds of the hard-packed earth that was there -- some of which may have laid there untouched for hundreds of years or more.
As foundation walls and house framing were completed, the empty space around the foundation needed to be filled. Contractors typically backfill foundation walls using some of the excavated soil that was removed to make room for the basement.
The excavation process breaks up and loosens the soil. Because of this, backfill soils will always be more permeable, or water-absorbent than the hard-packed earth beyond.
When it rains, the water will collect in the backfilled soils, exerting hydrostatic pressure against foundation walls. This is known as the "clay bowl effect".
Wet foundation soils have a number of possible ill effects on the soils. By adding water to soils, you can cause them to expand, add weight to the soil, and ultimately lead to enormous pressure on the foundation walls.
Wet soils can lead to foundation damage in these three ways:
While sandy soils remain stable as water passes through them, soils rich in clay undergo significant changes based on their moisture content.
When clay type soils dry out, they shrink significantly -- so much that the ground can become covered with cracks. But after a heavy rain, the cracks are gone and the soil is fully saturated with water.
Because clay soil absorbs so much water, it expands during wet weather. Expansive clay soils can put enormous pressure on your basement or foundation walls. When the pressure becomes more than the wall can handle, the wall will begin to push inwards.
Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure exerted by a fluid due to the force of gravity.
To understand how hydrostatic pressure can damage foundation walls, imagine how much heavier soil becomes when it's soaked with water. When the weight of water is added to the weight of the soil, you've got much greater pressure pushing against a foundation wall.
Hydrostatic pressure effectively amplifies soil pressure against a foundation wall. When pressure exceeds the foundation wall's ability to withstand it, the wall will begin to bow, buckle, tilt inward at the top, or move inwards at the bottom.
More about bowing, buckling walls.
More about our foundation wall repair system.
In areas with cold winter climates, frost heaving can sometimes put enough pressure on foundation walls to make them fail.
When water turns to ice, its volume increases by about 9%. If wet soil experiences a deep freeze, the wedging or heaving force that results can be extremely powerful.
Frost heaving can put literally thousands of pounds of force against your foundation walls, causing cracks, bowing, and heaving.
When your foundation is showing signs of bowing, buckling walls or any other foundation issues, we at Omni Basement Systems are the contractors you're looking for. We'd like to offer you a free, no-obligation foundation repair quote to help you identify the problems you're facing with your foundation -- and what it might take to fix them. To schedule an appointment with us, call or e-mail us today!
We're proud to serve Oakville, Hamilton, Burlington, surrounding areas such as Guelph, St Catharines, Kitchener, Brantford, Niagara Falls, Milton, Cambridge, and many nearby locales in ON.
Looking for a price? Get a no cost, no obligation free estimate.
our service area