One of the most damaging combinations that can affect your home and cause substantial foundation issues is water and cold temperatures.
In regions where temperatures regularly go below freezing, winter temperatures can cause foundation wall bowing, cracks in the foundation, and other serious problems.
When this happens, it is critical to call a professional contractor to repair these issues using a basement power brace system, a reliable method of correcting wall bowing and other serious foundation problems.
How Does Winter Weather Cause Damage to Foundations?
Temperature and soil moisture content play big roles in the foundation damage that many homes suffer.
All soil contains moisture; however, denser soils can contain more than other soil types.
In wintertime where the temperature routinely drops below freezing, this combination can cause extensive foundation damage due to freeze-thaw cycles that affect soil moisture.
After some time, these repetitive cycles can weaken foundation structures to the point of causing foundation wall bowing and severe cracking, problems that reveal themselves as wet, leaky basements and walls that are obviously bowed and failing.
How Do Freeze-Thaw Cycles Cause Foundation Damage?
A freeze-thaw cycle is the cycle of water within the soil freezing and then thawing, with another cycle starting when the water freezes again.
Water expands as it freezes, then contracts as it thaws.
When the ground freezes, the soil heaves or expands, then contracts again due to the moisture within it.
Because the ground freezes at the surface first, the top of the foundation is tightly trapped within the hard, frozen ground at the surface level.
Unable to shift at all, the foundation then experiences inward pressure from soil beneath the surface as it continues to freeze lower, the soil expanding as it does.
This inward pressure weakens the foundation as freeze-thaw cycles continue to happen, eventually causing the walls to bow on some foundations and small leaks to start.
The higher the water content in the soil, the greater the soil expansion is and the higher the pressure against the foundation walls.
What Is the Best Way to Repair Foundation Wall Bowing?
Of all the types of foundation issues that can occur, wall bowing due to freeze-thaw cycling is the most serious requiring the most significant repair.
There are two ways that this problem can be repaired:
- Installing a wall brace system.
- Doing major excavation around the exterior of the foundation to utilize other repair methods like steel plate anchors.
Both methods for repairing foundation wall bowing work equally well and a professional will determine which one is right for your home.
Get Professional Foundation Repair from AAA Basement
If you are dealing with serious foundation issues, it is critical to have a professional contractor determine the cause and then provide dependable repairs before the damage continues to worsen.
This is especially true with foundation wall bowing that can result in the slow destruction of large parts of your foundation.
With the installation of anchors or beams by AAA Basement, you can rest assured that your foundation is getting the correct repair that will cost less, be more effective, and last longer than any other method for this problem.
