UPDATE: Chica­go Drought May Cause Foun­da­tion Cracks, Wet Basements

Jul 16, 2012 • By Matthew Stock.

Our blog post pub­lished on July 13 warned home­own­ers in the Chica­go area that the lengthy hot, dry spell the area is expe­ri­enc­ing may be caus­ing seri­ous dam­age to their homes’ foundations.

When drought con­di­tions per­sist like they are now across much of the coun­try, soil around our homes begins to lose its mois­ture through a process called des­ic­ca­tion. Trees and shrubs, often plant­ed close to hous­es, extend their root sys­tems deep­er and wider in search of water they need to sur­vive. When this water is drawn out, it shrinks the soil that had con­tained it.

Shrink­ing soil next to foun­da­tion walls can cre­ate path­ways for water to enter our base­ments when it does begin to rain. When soil shrinks under the foun­da­tion, the prob­lem may be more severe if the foun­da­tions set­tles or shifts, caus­ing cracks.

To under­score the sever­i­ty of the prob­lem, I was asked by Chicago’s WGN-TV to appear live on its Mid­day News to explain to home­own­ers just what might be hap­pen­ing. Here’s the video:

If you’d like to know what a con­ser­v­a­tive approach to fix­ing your base­ment prob­lem would cost, take a look at an ear­li­er blog on base­ment water­proof­ing costs.

If you have noticed any new cracks in your foun­da­tion or can see gaps along your foun­da­tion walls, take the advice of the WGN reporter and call in the pro­fes­sion­als. At U.S. Water­proof­ing, we’ve water­proofed more than 300,000 base­ments in the Chica­go areas since 1957. When WGN need­ed a pro­fes­sion­al, they called us; maybe you should, too.

Tags: foundation cracks, basement crack, chicago basement waterproofing, basement waterproofing chicago

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