The Importance Of Foundation In Your Home


The foundation of your home matters for a wide array of reasons, especially when it comes to the overall integrity of your home. The foundation of your home will keep it sturdy and in good shape for many years to come, but it is important to choose the right kind of foundation. Having the right kind of foundation will not only prevent foundation failure and the need for foundation repair, but will also help to prevent things such as flooding damage as well.

Flooding damage is a real problem in homes found all throughout the country. In fact, flooding damage occurs in more than 95% of all basements and is common in crawlspaces as well. And with more than 35 million crawlspaces and even more basements found in homes here in the United States, many people are far too familiar with the impact of flooding damage.

Fortunately, flooding damage in your own home can be avoided in a number of different ways. For one thing, you can have an expert soil analysis conducted on your property before you home is ever built. In some parts of the country, such as in the state of Texas, where there are at least 60 different types of soil, certain types of soil can prove detrimental to the overall well being of your foundations. However, choosing the right kind of foundation can minimize the chances of flooding and flooding damage ever occurring.

In Texas, for instance, the ideal type of foundation is often that of the slab foundation. Slab foundations have become quite commonplace all throughout the state. Typically, any home that has been built within the last half of a century or so can be expected to have a slab foundation if it is found in the state of Texas. And these slab foundations can lessen the risk of overall flooding damage in quite the considerable way.

Of course, the care and keeping of your home will help to prevent flooding damage and other types of foundational damage as well, no matter what type of foundation it is that you have. For instance, you’ll want to be careful in all of your gardening endeavors. Ideally, you will keep any soakers at least a full foot away from the foundation of the home – and some experts on foundation and avoiding flooding damage will even ultimately recommend that these soakers be kept as many as 18 inches from the home’s foundation. After all, it is far better to be safe than to be sorry when it comes to the overall integrity of the foundation of your home.

Aside from avoiding flooding damage, you can avoid other foundation problems just through the high quality construction of your foundation, one that pays careful attention to detail. Take, for instance, the typical pier and beam foundation, for which measurements and the placement of materials must be as precise as possible. The beams in this type of foundation, for example, should be placed exactly 12 feet apart from one another – no closer and no further. In addition to this, the joists should be spaced around 18 inches apart. Following such rules will allow for a foundation that is strong and lasting even as time passes on and the house grows older.

Of course, the need for a strong foundation is not just the case for residential buildings. All commercial buildings will need a good and sturdy foundation, one that will very much stand the test of time, as well. When a foundation is shoddily constructed without the attention needed to make it right – something that is certainly far too common here in the United States – it is likely that problems with the foundation will develop over time. If such becomes the case, then commercial foundation repair services will become very much necessary. Fortunately, these services are likely to be quite easy to come by, no matter what part of the United States the commercial building in question might be located in.

At the end of the day, your foundation matters. Keeping your foundation in as good of a shape as is possible will help to keep the overall quality and structural integrity of the home high.


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