Your home looks great from the outside. You just had your roof inspected and it’s in great shape, the gutters are clean, and you just power washed your exterior siding. But even the most perfect-looking house can have some trouble lurking underneath. Your foundation, which may include a basement or crawl space, can have moisture problems if the soil around the home erodes over time. This problem is more common in older homes where rain and weather slowly changes the landscape around your property.
Also, older homes tend to settle as the ground shifts below it. These changes are small and subtle overtime, but they can result in flooded basements, a damp feeling in your basement, or a moist crawl space. Though this may seem like harmless nuisances, they can actually grow into larger problems if you do not fix your property’s soil grade. How can you address this problem and get your foundation working the way it should once more?
Improving Your Soil Grade
When your home inspector notices that you have a negative grade, it means that water is flowing directly into your foundation, causing water to pool in the basement or your crawl space. Positive grading, on other hand, causes water to flow away from your home and keeps your foundation nice and dry.
If you have a negative grading, it’s important to fix it because rainfall or melted snow will cause structural damage, mold issues, or even saggy floors over time. The recommended positive grading is 6 inches for every six feet.
How to Fix Negative Grading
First, watch where the rain falls in your yard. See where the water flows toward your house. This is where the grading needs to be corrected. If you see water flowing to your home, you need to add soil. Not just any soil type will do, either. Loam is the best type, which has an excellent mixture of topsoil and sand, which promotes proper drainage. Too much clay can hold in moisture and make the water problem worse. Sand is a bad choice because it absorbs water and doesn’t drain well.
You can add soil on your own or hire a contractor if you don’t know where to start. To improve the grade, place new soil close to the home to make the ground level. Just be sure to not cover the siding because that will make it an inviting environment for pests like termites. When you see the soil makes a slope that moves water away from your property, you should solve the root of the grading problem. If you want to make the grading look more aesthetic, turn it into a pretty flower bed.
Check Your Gutters
Sometimes the answer may be simpler than you’d expect, too. If you find that there is a moisture problem but your grade isn’t negative, then check your gutters and their downspouts. Clogged gutters can send water to run off from the eaves and directly around your home’s foundation.
Meanwhile, gutters without extenders can send water right into the ground next to your foundation in large quantities. If any part of your gutter system is causing a water problem, then it’s important to fix them right away. Thankfully, cleaning your gutters or buying an extender for your gutter spouts are both quick fixes that don’t cost a lot.
Trust Your Roof Replacement to Noble Roofing
Whether you’re looking for better form or function, or simply feel that a new roof is in order, trust Noble Roofing, the preferred choice for roof replacement in Centreville VA and surrounding cities. Give us a call at (703) 404-0505 to speak with our roofing experts. You can also request a free estimate through our online request form today.Recently experience a bad Storm Damage? Sometimes a Roof Repair is all you need!