Underpinning foundations can help in drenched drought conditions
Underpinning foundations could be the solution if this year’s strange weather patterns have left your property standing on less stable ground.
Back in January, we told you about expansive soils – ground that expands or contracts to a large degree due to changes in moisture.
Since then, we have seen an early-spring heatwave that left the country facing drought conditions, followed by heavy rains that have caused disruption for quite the opposite reason.
With many people confused as to why they are subject to a hose-pipe ban when their garden is waterlogged, it’s worth considering what’s happening underground.
That dried-out soil during the highest temperatures of the drought is likely to have contracted in size – with expansive soils shrinking to a particularly large extent.
Now the rains have come, some areas will be swelling back to their fullest, which is likely to cause shifting in the foundations of buildings constructed in expansive soils.
If you suspect your property has weakened as a result of the strange conditions seen so far in 2012, you may want to look into underpinning foundations to help add extra support where it is no longer provided by the surrounding soil.