With the average cost of foundation repair in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex exceeding $5,000, and that’s not including potential cosmetic or structural damage sustained by your home, keeping the soil around your foundation evenly watered can save you money and hassle in the long run. Our experience at A French Drain and Rain Gutters can help protect your investment in your home by providing proper water channeling and drainage solutions that help ensure your home’s structural integrity and its value for years to come.

Weather conditions in North Texas are frequently extremes. Huge amounts of rain followed by heat and drought. The soil in our area acts like a sponge. Expanding during downpours and then shrinking in summer’s 100°F temperatures. Your foundation, and therefore your home, rises and falls, often unevenly, during these cycles. Our soils have some of the highest plasticity (range of potential movement) of any in the country making keeping the soil around your foundation evenly watered essential to preventing splitting and cracking of your slab.

The goal is to keep the moisture in the soil under the foundation constant throughout the year. The soil should be evenly damp, but not overly wet. Too much moisture can do as much harm as not enough by pushing up your foundation slab. A good drainage system is needed to direct excess water away from your home’s foundation to protect the ground from being over-saturated during heavy thunderstorms. If you’ve had cracks form, during dry spells water from a sudden storm could fill these channels directly without soaking into the ground first and cause the cracks to expand further if the soil has not been kept evenly watered.

In spite of referring to the practice as watering your foundation, you do not want to water directly against your home. Ideally, watering should be done 10 to15 inches away from your foundation when compensating for too much dryness. Sprinkler systems, hand-held hoses or soaker hoses can be used when rainfall is scarce. Make sure to address all sides of your foundation. Waiting to water once the sun sets will prevent losing too much water to evaporation when using a sprinkler system. Running your sprinkler system 15-20 minutes a day during hot, dry spells is recommended. Since soaker hoses release water more slowly, 45 minutes to 1 hour may be needed. Make sure to take your landscaping into consideration. A single tree may use 150 gallons of water a day in the summer drying out the soil around your foundation. Shrubs as well on a smaller scale.

If you have any of these signs, you may already need foundation repair. It’s essential to catch it early and fix your drainage issues to prevent additional damage.

Contact us today at A French Drain and Rain Gutters for an evaluation of your home’s drainage needs. Serving Godley, Johnson County, Somervell County, Parker County, and Hood County.