A lot of houses suffer from foundation issues due to poor exterior drainage. The integrity of their foundation is affected by a poorly installed drainage. This issue comes from a few possible sources. Of course, the ideal way of keeping the foundation of your house in excellent shape is to contact a Sherman Foundation Repair service to fix it as soon as possible.  

Here are several reasons why poor exterior drainage can affect your foundation: 

Droughts Change the Soil’s Consistency around the Slab 

Not every soil on your home has a similar structure. Some of your soil may be more like clay. Some of it could be rocky and have excellent drainage. These various forms of soil provide fairly equal amounts of foundation support whenever the soil is consistently and frequently watered. However, some dirt would contract and dry out more compared to the rest whenever it has been months since the last heavy rain. Because of that, several parts of your home face more stress and are more likely to crack, instead of distributing equally its weight on the soil.  

Rain Will Fall against the Seams of your Slab If You Don’t Have Excellent Gutters 

Aside from redirecting away water from your front door, gutters will also ensure that water does not free fall against the concrete from the roof. The pressure would wear down the concrete without gutters. It could push more water under the slab and push away the soil around the sides of your foundation. In addition to that, water will also work its way between driveway slabs of concrete and your home if it falls in front of your garage.  

Poorly Installed Downspouts and Gutters 

Another possible drainage issue occurs whenever downspouts and gutters were incorrectly installed. For those who don’t know, gutters have to slightly incline toward the downspouts. Water might spill out in the wrong areas if they don’t slope. This will produce foundation settlement and soil erosion.  

Missing Downspouts and Gutters 

A home might completely lack downspouts or gutters on several occasions. Several homes might have missing sections. With this, water from the roof will pour down around the home’s perimeter. This will soften the soil under your foundation. This will then lead to the settlement of the beam or slab.  

Installing a downspout or gutter system is the only solution here. It should be installed around your home. Make sure that it is connected into a sump pump or a buried drainage pipes to move water away from your foundation.  

Downspouts Depositing Water Next to Your Foundation 

One of the main sources of poor drainage around your home has to do with downspouts and gutters. This is particularly true if your downspout is depositing water right next to your foundation.  

Installing a subsurface drainage pipe is the solution to this issue. It should be linked to the downspouts and direct water away from your foundation. On several occasions, if our home is located in a low spot, it might be required to install a sump pump.