It’s early November, and temperatures have reached the low 80s already this month!
However, long-range forecast data indicates that chilly air may be on the way -- especially in the morning hours, as temperatures may potentially drop into the upper 30s to low 40s next week.
A drastic temperature change -- as much as 40 degrees in the span of a few days -- can impact our homes, patios, and driveways.
I spoke with Jeremy Ross from American Crawlspace Solutions to find out more about how large temperature swings can impact the soil and foundations below our homes.
Q: During the colder season, when we get a little more rain and temperature fluctuations -- how does that impact our driveways and foundations?
“In the colder seasons, when that ground is wetter and softer, you are more likely to get shifting due to erosion. Water can be flowing under your driveway without you realizing it.”
“Or even if the soil wasn’t prepared properly when they poured that driveway -- it can often take years for that to have an effect, but then you start seeing those cracks and settling, and your driveway may have cracks that are uneven -- that is something that we can come in and help level that, bring it back to stable and put it back to where it once was.”
Q: How does the Georgia Red Clay impact all of our different foundations?
“What we often don’t realize is that the soil is constantly expanding and contracting, especially that Georgia Red Clay. It can hold so much moisture when it gets wet -- it expands.”
“When it dries out in the summertime, it contracts. And so the soil around your house -- or even the soil your house and driveway are sitting on -- it’s doing the exact same thing. Over time, it can cause your driveway to move, it can even allow the foundation of your house to move.”
Q: How do I know if that movement is occurring? Is there something that I can see and lookout for?
“The easy visual things you want to look for in the foundation include looking for things like stair-step cracking in the brick. If it’s a block foundation, you want to look for the stair-step cracking -- that’s usually your indication that something has shifted, not just expanded and contracted, but actually shifted down somewhere.”