Protect Your Basement From Melting Snow
As the sun comes out and the temperature starts to rise, you will notice the snow starting to melt from your home. This sign of melting snow gives us some reprieve from the winter blues, but melting snow can also be harmful to your Hamilton home. Here’s what you need to know about protecting your home from melting snow and how to make sure you keep water outside your home where it should be.
Why Is Melting Snow a Foundation Issue?
As snow melts, it becomes water. Water runoff can sneak through any cracks that you may have in your foundation. This can lead to basements flooding and ruining furniture and your possessions.
In addition to water leaking through the cracks, Hamilton winters have often seen melting and then sudden freezing again. If there is still water in the cracks of your foundation, and it suddenly drops below freezing again, this water will freeze in place. Over time, this makes any cracks you have in your foundation bigger.
In order to prevent flood basement or growing cracks, it’s important to take care of any foundation issues you may have with your Hamilton home now.
Inspect your Home’s Foundation
Have you noticed that there is a little bit of dampness or water pooling in certain areas of your basement? This could mean there is water or moisture leaking into the basement through cracks or openings in your foundation.
This can happen very slowly, and you may not even notice it at first, but keeping an eye out on your foundation is important. Check out your foundation – both inside and out – to see if you can notice any areas of concern that you may want to have inspected.
Keeping an eye out for smaller issues – as they develop – and being proactive about them can prevent major repairs in the future.
Tips For Protecting Your Foundation
There are a few things you can do around your Hamilton home to keep your foundation dry and making sure you don’t require major repairs:
- Keep downspouts draining at least 10 feet away from the foundation of your home.
- Make sure sump pumps are also draining at least 10 feet away from your home.
- Keep all the gutters clear of debris (like leaves and dirt) so that water can drain properly and doesn’t back up.
- If you have had issues with water draining away from the property, have a professional install some underground pipes which can help drain water away from the house and help prevent flooding.
- Fill in any cracks in the basement. Take the time to fix any small issues you notice early on so that the cracks don’t grow and become much worse.
- Try to move trees at least 15 feet away from your house as the roots can grow underground and impact the foundation, causing cracks to form.
By taking the time to check out your Hamilton home regularly, you will notice any small issues before they become bigger issues.
Foundation Repair in Hamilton & Burlington
If you notice signs of foundation trouble, make sure you get it inspected and dealt with sooner rather than later. If you require the help of an expert for any foundation-related issues, contact Conterra Foundation & Repair today. We service the Hamilton and Burlington areas of Ontario.
