Repairing Home Foundation Damage: Fill Soil Problems in Virginia

It’s exciting to see a poured concrete foundation revealed for the first time. The workers strip off the wall forms and you see those massive grey walls standing tall and strong. It’s hard to believe that these same walls might crack, bow and tilt in a few years, forcing homeowners to pay for structural repairs that weren’t anticipated. Experienced foundation repair contractors can help avoid this damage and disappointment by anticipating soil problems that originate during the final phases of house construction.

Imported soil puts foundations under pressure

How does a house built on stable soil succumb to foundation damage because of expansive soil? The answer to this question often traces back to the house construction process. In places such as Ebony, VA, soil was removed to create an excavation for the basement. If the excavated soil contained a large number of rocks or tree roots, this material was probably trucked offsite because it wouldn’t be suitable for use as backfill. Later, when the time came to replace soil around the basement walls, new soil had to be brought in from another location. It’s this new soil that has the potential to cause foundation damage.

Clay is the culprit

Fill soil brought in from a different location can have a high clay content. Unlike soil composed of sand and gravel, clay-rich soil doesn’t drain well. Instead, it absorbs water during wet periods and expands in volume. When saturated with water, the expansion of a clay-rich soil can exert as much as 5,500 lbs. per sq. ft. on a house foundation. Such force can push laterally against a foundation wall, causing it to bow or crack. Expansive soil also lifts walls and concrete slabs up, and then shrinks down away from the masonry when the soil dries out. The resulting voids leave slabs, footings and walls unsupported, so this masonry is likely to crack, settle or even break apart in response to swell-and-shrink cycles.

Foundation repairs offer solutions to expansive soil problems

Regardless of when or how a foundation becomes susceptible to expansive soil stress, there are preventative measures that can be taken by an experienced foundation repair specialist. Improving drainage around the foundation is one common preventative measure. In other cases, it may be necessary to reinforce foundation walls to withstand the soil’s expansive force. A third strategy is to replace some of the clay-rich backfill soil with sand and gravel-rich soil that doesn’t expand and contract under different moisture conditions.

If you are looking for a foundation repair company in Ebony and the surrounding areas, look no further than Fortress Foundation Solutions!

Call us today at 1-434-473-7012 or contact us online for a free estimate!