Soil & Moisture

Expansive clay, drought cycles, and why watering a foundation is a real thing.

4 articles

• Expansive Clay — The House Moves Because the Water Does

  Piers stop the house sinking. They do nothing about the soil that lifts and drops it every season, and that soil is why the piers were needed.

• Trees Near Foundations — The Roots Take Water, Not Concrete

  People picture roots pushing concrete apart. On clay the mechanism is the opposite — the tree drinks, the soil shrinks, and the house follows it down.

• Grading and Gutters — The Cheapest Foundation Work There Is

  A downspout dumping at the wall delivers a bathtub of water to one spot every time it rains. Nothing else in the yard concentrates water like that.

• Expansive Clay and Your Foundation — The Seasonal House

  If the problems come and go with the seasons, the soil is doing it. Piers are not always the answer, and watering the foundation sometimes is.