When the soil expands due to prolonged saturation, the foundation is heaved upward. The soil beneath a foundation can become saturated due to seasonal changes in moisture, leaks in underground pipes, or underground aquifers.
Lots of people around the world losses more money due to heaving than it does due to tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes combined.
Define Foundation Heave
Generally, foundation heave is caused by soaked, expanding soils, a plumbing leak, or underground aquifers causing uplift, elevation of a foundation. There are a number of foundation types, and foundation heave can affect any part of your house. A slab on grade foundation is more susceptible to foundation heave.
Compared to slab on grade foundations, slab on grade foundations are relatively thin and light, therefore offering less resistance to upward force.
Foundation Heave Signs
Wet and expansive soils work very hard to lift your home during this process. According to your home’s design, it is built for permanent residence. It happens when a relatively unstoppable force meets a very movable object.
When soil moves up, the foundation moves in an uneven fashion, causing stress and pressure on the wooden house bones hidden behind drywall and or tiles. As annoying as these signs and symptoms can be, they can also impede the functionality of your home and have an adverse effect on your quality of life.
Main Causes of Foundation Heave
Related Changes in Construction
- When large trees are removed from a construction site, the soil moisture is likely to increase because the trees’ roots previously drained the soil.
- Consequently, the soil moisture under the foundation is increased as a result of reduced natural evaporation of moisture in the area covered by the structure.
- Soil moisture is also increased in the area occupied by the structure due to a reduction in transpiration from vegetation.
- When the source of moisture depletion is eliminated, the soil mass accumulates and has more moisture.
- Insufficient drainage prevents surface water from draining from the structure, resulting in ponding and an increase in moisture.
- Rain gutters and downspouts formed around a structure can create ponds, which lead to increased soil moisture due to the water finding its way toward the foundation. As a consequence, foundation heave may occur since clay soil expands.
- During excavations for basements or shaft foundations, and at soil-foundation interfaces, seepage into the soil beneath the foundation increases soil moisture.
- Water saturates the soil beneath a foundation when an aquifer is tapped, causing it to expand and generate pressure.
- Foundation heaving is more likely to occur when exposed foundation soil is dried in excavations and the soil surcharge weight is reduced.
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