Spring is right around the corner and we’ve had some pretty wacky weather in late winter. Now is the time for homeowners to be preparing their homes for the significant change in weather. In this episode, Adam shares important tips on preparing your house for the change of seasons.
Narrator: It’s time once again for the “Crack Man Podcast” hosted by A1 Foundation Crack Repair. I’m Darren Kincaid here with the Crack Daddy himself, Adam Tracy. Adam and The Crack Man Rich have over 30 years’ experience in the construction industry. Rich as over two5 years as the president and founder of A1 Foundation Crack Repair. This podcast provides expert basement waterproofing, concrete repair, and preventative maintenance tips for homeowners and businesses. A1 Foundation’s valuable insight will help avert a disastrous flood within the basement, health problems associated with water infiltration, and protect your biggest investment….your home. The topic of today’s podcast: Is my house ready for the spring thaw?
Narrator: So, Adam, spring is right around the corner, and we've had some pretty wacky weather in February. I guess homeowners should be preparing their homes for the significant change in weather. Am I right?
Adam: Yes. We should. In fact, this winter has been a throwback winter for what has been typical for many years. And, unfortunately, the past three or four years, we've been lulled into the idea that we don't get snow anymore. And from January 1 to February, we had almost consistently below freezing temperatures, especially at night.
We've had a snowpack that's hung around for months. And now as the ground starts to warm up, because in the past three or four years, we really haven't had this issue because it's been kind of too warm, and we haven't had that deep freeze that gets deep into the soil. And so right now, specifically today even, we have a little bit of melt from the past two days, and now we're getting a little bit of rain.
People are calling us left and right with some flooding issues in their house. Now what are these issues that we see typically? Well, because the way the basements are designed, they're meant to be in an area where it's below the ground freeze level. So, four feet, five feet, six feet down, and we're below that level where we have to worry about freezing issues.
Because of this, we see bulkhead issues, and we're seeing a lot of floor wall seam issues, and we're seeing a lot of floor crack issues in these homes. So, both water and also expanding cracks, especially on the floor crack. Because the top two to three feet of the soil is frozen still, although that will start to change here. So, with these rains and the thawing of the snow, we have several storms worth of snow that have just kind of sat there and lingered as snow for the past three, four, five weeks. And with massive rainfall or a thaw and plus a rain, all of that water is now going to be coming somewhere.
The ground is starting to be much more saturated and a lot more water up and against the foundation. So, you're going to start to see tie rods leaking. You're going to see pipe penetrations leaking and, obviously, foundation cracks that are leaking. The other basements that are having a lot of hard times during these winter times are obviously our stone foundations. Now the stone foundation, they move ever so slightly with the freezing and thawing cycles.
When we see this massive fall or breakout of the winter, we see all the little minute movement cause new pathways for the water to come in and a lot more deterioration of the foundation mortar joints. So, this is the time of year where we start to see basements getting stress tested and often failing. But this is the time of year where you want to be proactive on it because as the summer comes and the rain continues through the summer and into the fall, those foundation cracks that were never leaking in the past but now are starting to weep a little bit. They're going to be the constant leakers for you and all those foundation issues that you had once in the last twenty-five years, but you're seeing it again. Now it's going to start happening more and more often.
This is the time of year to be proactive. Any suspected foundation issues should be dealt with now before you wake up in the morning and must get the shop back down to vacuum the basement for hours and hours a day. So, the spring thaw is coming. We're watching it actively right now. There's rain coming out the window. I can see it. And all that snowpack that we've had there for four or five weeks giving us a white winter is now going to turn us into a muddy, wet spring. So, buckle up. We're about to get wet, and give us a call if you need anything.
Narrator: Well, thanks, Adam, for sharing these important tips on preparing your house for the change of seasons.
Narrator: If you have a basement water problem and think you need a crack professional near Boston, MA, or, if you’d like more information on foundation crack repair and basement waterproofing topics, please visit A1FoundationCrackRepair.com or call (866) 929-3171. Or you can email info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.