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Foundation Tips For Gulf Coast Living

If you live in the Houston area and don't like the weather - just wait 5 minutes, and it's sure to change. With the ever changing and extremely dry weather, as a result, sooner or later you will probably experience some kind of foundation problem.

Why? Because unstable soil conditions in this part of the country inevitably produce excessive settling. The worst type of unstable soil is gumbo clay, which swells when it come in contact with moisture and then shrinks when the water evaporates. Gulf Coast soil consists mostly of gumbo clay. With the fickle weather and extreme Houston temperatures, the surface of the soil expands and contracts over and over again, slowly causing your foundation to shift and eventually crack if you do not take the proper precautions.

Although people are very concerned about keeping up their lawns and flower beds, few ever take the time to think about maintaining their foundations. Watering the slab manually with a hose is the most economical way to keep a slab wet, but it is also the most time consuming. A soaker hose can be purchased at a home improvement store and placed around the perimeter of the slab. Ideally, a timer might even be attached at the hose bib to turn the water on and off automatically twice a day.

If there are large trees in close proximity to the foundation, extra care should be taken to provide enough water to maintain both the tree and the slab. Also, if the roots of the tree threaten to interfere with the foundation, the roots should be pruned or a barrier should be installed to separate the roots from the slab. Otherwise, the tree may eventually have to be removed.