How To Frame Soil To Repair Erosion

Steve writes: A friend recently moved into a property where a downspout leaked for years causing soil under the footings to be washed away on one corner of property. Their architect said they need to fill up the void with concrete to provide support in that area. Is this a good approach and what would you call this remedy?

Steve Bliss of BuildingAdivsor.com responds: This sounds similar a reasonable solution, which is referred to, in general, every bit underpinning. Underpinning is required when the soil beneath a foundation cannot support the load. Examples include filled soil that has not been properly compacted, organic materials such as peat, or places where the soil nether the foundation has been eroded or disturbed, as in this case. Leaks in the water pipes under a slab foundation can as well destabilize or erode the soil.

There are a variety of solutions depending on the specific situation. The soil can sometimes be stabilized and strengthened by adding cement-like materials (chemical stabilization), or that section of foundation can be made deeper to achieve stable, undisturbed soil — or the ground made wider at the base to spread the load over a larger area. Other more exotic (and expensive) solutions include special steel pins and helical piers engineered to support weight in poor soils.

Since it is difficult to supercede and compact soil beneath an existing footing, filling the void with concrete may exist the easiest and cheapest solution as long as you can fill down to undisturbed, native soil of acceptable force. And, of course, yous need to redirect the downspout so the water drains safely away from the edifice without causing damage.

On flat sites, water from down spouts can drain to a dry well. — On flat or hard-to-drain sites, conduct water at least ten ft. from the foundation to a dry well or daylight.

It's surprising how many basement water leaks, erosion issues, and other drainage bug can be fixed by simply redirecting water from gutters and downspouts away from the business firm.

Sometimes a splash block or a short run of horizontal piping (drain pipe or pvc) along the basis is all that is needed. On a flat site with poor natural drainage, a dry well located away from the foundation may be needed to safely belch the water dorsum into the soil.

Since you are excavating to repair the footings, yous should brand sure that the house has functioning footing drains, and to repair or supersede them if needed. Footing drains provide a secondary line of defence force by moving water away from the base of the foundation. Nevertheless, managing the surface h2o from the roof and thou, and so information technology flows away from the foundation, is your meridian priority.

Read more Managing Roof & Yard Runoff