Soil Washout
Soil washout is a common problem for concrete. What should you know about the process of soil washout and why it can be so damaging?
How Soil Washout Affects Concrete Lifting
One of the most common reasons you might need concrete lifting processes is because of soil washout. However, many homeowners don’t really know what soil washout is or how they can manage it.
Soil washout describes the process that happens where water comes underneath the concrete and moves some of the soil away. It’s a serious erosion concern, especially when it happens underneath your home’s concrete. Here’s everything you need to know about the issues that may arise with soil washout.
What Causes Soil Washout?
What causes soil washout in the first place? There are many things that cause soil washout, and they all have to do with water. Water is the key ingredient here, but there are a number of ways water can become involved with your home’s soil.
- Extra Precipitation
First of all, look to the skies. Have you noticed more precipitation recently? Both rain and flooding are huge reasons you might be having soil washout, although snow and hail can also cause soil washout if the temperature rises and causes the snow or hail to melt quickly enough for it to carry soil away from the area.
That extra precipitation can make it difficult for you to maintain your soil without washout. Specifically, extra water running under your home can easily pick up tiny particles of soil. Although this might not be a huge problem when it’s only a few particles, it can be a gigantic one when the rain and flooding just won’t stop, causing the precipitation to create serious soil washout problems.
- Issues With Water Drainage
Your home’s grading is an important part of avoiding soil washout. This specifically has to do with making sure water runs away from your home. If a home’s grading isn’t great, you might end up with water staying around the home’s foundation, which can cause problems with hydrostatic pressure that will eventually cause foundation concerns.
It’s also possible for water drainage problems to be in reference to issues with handling rainwater and floods. If you don’t have downspouts or gutters, for example, you might just have water accumulating around your home. It’s important that you have downspouts and gutters that direct the water away from the home entirely.
- Interior Leaks
Although exterior leaks are some of the most common reasons to experience soil washout, they’re not the only thing that can cause this problem. As a matter of fact, interior leaks can also create soil washout. An interior leak is one that comes from inside the house; typically, a plumbing problem you’re experiencing.
These interior leaks often move out into the exterior. The interior leak can be just about anything at just about any intensity, ranging from complete plumbing failure to a simple backup of a sink. However, one thing is clear: No matter what, interior leaks are frustrating. If they’re extremely serious, they may even run out of the home and carry away pieces of the soil.
Common Causes of Concrete Problems
Common Concrete Problem Signs
How Can I Fix Soil Washout?
Now that you know why soil washout can be an important part of the soil process, what can you do to fix it? The good news is that it’s possible to fix soil washout. These are some of the most common ways to maintain your home’s structural stability through soil washout.
- Better Drainage Systems
It’s important that you install drainage systems that really work. Your home needs a drainage system that will work well to keep your home as dry as possible. These drainage systems often work by gathering water from one location and making sure water goes a completely different direction, often more than 10 feet away from the home foundation.
These drainage systems won’t just help you avoid issues with soil washout. They’ll also make your home much safer overall. Regardless of the drainage system you end up choosing, it’s crucial that you choose a drainage system that’ll keep your home as safe as possible. That way, you’ll have the best drainage system and less annoyance.
- Deeper Foundation Stability
One potential issue you might want to consider with soil washout is the possibility that you might end up with serious concerns regarding your home’s foundation. After all, many foundation floors are just a concrete slab. That means soil washout can impact your home’s foundation, not just concrete pieces around the home.
The answer here is deeper foundation stability. With a deep foundation system, you can drill into the ground underneath the home until you hit bedrock. Then you’ll be able to lift your home back up to its initial place, regardless of whether or not you have the foundation stability you need directly underneath it.
- Concrete Lifting Processes
Last, but certainly not least, it’s important to take a look at the concrete lifting processes that make it easier for you to manage your soil washout concerns. Soil washout often leaves areas underneath concrete slabs open for gravity to do its work. If you want to make sure you don’t end up with cracked and broken concrete, you’ll want to invest in concrete lifting.
Concrete lifting is certainly one of the most important things you can do after you’ve experienced soil washout. Groundworks uses mostly polyurethane foam injections for soil washout problems. These injections make it much easier for you to maintain your home’s concrete stability and even lift the concrete back to its initial position.
FAQs About Soil Washout
Remember, a problem doesn’t have to be ultra-serious before you take the steps to tackle it. It just has to have an impact on the home. In fact, sometimes tackling a problem early on can be beneficial and expand the number of options you have.
- Always Tackle Problems Early
Some homeowners have an unfortunate belief that only problems that are extremely severe need help from an expert. It’s surprisingly common for homeowners not to handle problems until it’s impossible for them to ignore the problem. What you might not know is that this can actually cause more problems than it solves.
When you’re talking about your home, it’s vital that you fix all your problems as early as possible. Ignoring problems, even problems that seem less severe, is a surefire way to end up with problems that are expensive and difficult to fix. Fixing a problem early on will let you fix it with less money, time, and energy on the line.
- Soil Washout Doesn’t Have to Be Severe Before You Tackle It
Remember, you can manage any problems you’re having as early on as possible. Whether it’s a foundation problem, an issue with your soil, or any other kind of problem you’re experiencing, you can manage these problems early on. You just need to hand the problems over to an expert if at all possible.
When you notice you’re having soil washout problems or even problems that have an adjacent relationship to soil washout, it’s a good idea to talk to a Groundworks concrete repair expert. Soil washout should be one of the things you take as seriously as possible, which is why it doesn’t have to be bad at all before you bring in an expert.
No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you don’t want to deal with soil washout. Soil washout is nothing if not a frustrating element of owning a home. However, you don’t want to ignore that problem if it does come up, because it could be a serious concern.
- The Problems With Ignoring Soil Washout
Many homeowners make the choice to essentially ignore soil washout when it doesn’t have a direct foundational impact on their home. Unfortunately, this is a common approach to home problems even for homeowners who have owned a home for a long time. It’s astonishingly common for homeowners not to think of the long-term effects.
When you ignore soil washout problems, however, you run the risk of ignoring them for so long that you have to spend lots more money, time, and effort fixing them. You could even end up with washout problems you might not be able to fix easily. These are both great reasons to address soil washout as early as possible.
- Help With Soil Washout Early On
As a matter of fact, it doesn’t matter how bad the problems are with soil washout. It’s crucial that you tackle your soil washout concerns as soon as you notice them because that’s the best way you’re going to end up with a more structurally stable home. Plus, it’s often less expensive and labor-intensive to do it this way.
Getting help with soil washout also doesn’t have to be a difficult process. It’s easy to fix soil washout as long as you know how to do it. The first step is to make sure that you talk to a foundation repair expert. With a foundation repair expert, you’ll be able to know exactly what’s going on in your home and create a path toward fixing it.
It’s certainly possible to discover soil washout problems much earlier in the process than you might think. If you’re having soil washout problems, there’s an underlying cause you need to think about. If you can catch this underlying cause, you’ll be able to get foundation settlement help.
- Looking for Foundation Settlement
When you’re trying to discover soil washout, you might want to look at the secondary problems the soil washout can itself cause. The best thing to look out for is foundation settlement. When you notice concerns like sinking foundations and cracking concrete, it’s common for the problem to be soil washout.
Having foundation settlement also means that you need to get help to fix the problems with the settlement specifically. Soil washout would be an important problem to handle in this situation, but foundation settlement would be the more important concern overall. Remember that tackling the underlying problem will typically be a better solution.
- Getting Help to Differentiate
Soil washout can be the underlying cause of problems like foundation settlement, which can itself have an underlying cause. However, it’s still a good idea to defer to concrete lifting experts on this one, as they’re more likely to know the difference between soil washout and other problems that might look similar from the outside.
Talking to a concrete expert will typically be the best option if you’re trying to discern whether a problem is soil washout, foundation settlement, or a combination of the two. A concrete expert can physically inspect your concrete and look for the telltale signs of both of these things. Plus, they’ll be able to catch any other problems.
Finding the right solution to soil washout problems isn’t necessarily easy. If you’re attempting to find a good solution to your soil washout problems, you need to think about what the problem is in the first place. Here’s how you can find that top solution.
- Not One-Size-Fits-All
There are many potential solutions to soil washout problems. It’s not about a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s about taking a look at what’s going on in your home, understanding the root of the problem, and creating a solution that works for your needs. Every person will likely need a unique solution for their home.
Because the problem can often require a unique solution, you’re going to need to know more about your problem. That’s one of the reasons most homeowners will need to talk to an expert before pushing forward with soil washout problems. It’s often more complicated than it looks from the beginning. Talking to an expert can help you with the issues you’re experiencing.
- Get Help From an Expert
In general, getting expert help is always a good idea. No matter what problem you’re experiencing with your home, an expert will be able to take a look at the problem, understand what’s going on, and give you an idea of what you can do to fix it. Experts know more about what to do in your home than you do, and working together, you can create a great path forward.
Soil washout is one of the most frustrating problems you can experience, but Groundworks is a great option when you’re trying to decide what to do with it. No matter what you’re experiencing with your soil washout, a Groundworks expert can help you fix the main problem and the secondary ones, ensuring that your home stays healthy and well-functioning.
Learn More and Fix Your Soil Washout by Asking for Help From an Expert
Soil washout problems can occur for a variety of reasons and can happen from a variety of sources. There are as many solutions to your soil washout problems as there are reasons for soil washout to occur, and it’s crucial you make sure you don’t unintentionally make the wrong choice. This is why it’s so crucial to talk to a foundation repair expert before you choose a soil washout solution.
Instead of trying to DIY soil washout, you should talk to a foundation repair expert first and foremost. DIY fixes for soil washout will almost never work because they’re not going to tackle the root causes. If you want to figure out what’s really going to work for your soil washout problems, you should get your advice from a local foundation repair expert.
Disclaimer: “Concrete leveling” means the process by which cracked, uneven concrete is stabilized, and in many cases lifted, by means of PolyRenewal™ polyurethane foam. Groundworks does not guarantee that PolyRenewal™ can make your concrete perfectly level.