Are Bowing Walls Serious?

What You Need To Know

First Things First. Are bowing walls in your Virginia home serious? The answer is a definitive yes.

Bowing walls occur when excessive exterior pressure affects the foundation and its wall support. Because of this pressure, walls curve inward forming a “bow”. When this exterior pressure becomes too much for foundation walls, they begin to bow, crack, or even break. You should not ignore a bowing wall in your basement. In fact, if you continue to ignore a pressurized wall, it may eventually collapse and cause severe damage.

As established, bowing walls occur because of exterior pressure, or hydrostatic pressure. This pressure is caused when the ground around your home is saturated with water.  When too much water accumulates, it starts to “push” or exert pressure against your foundation walls. Additionally, when this water turns into frost, the soil expansion becomes permanent during colder months. This is why it is important to have an industry expert inspect your home’s foundation.

Call A Foundation Expert

When foundation experts come and inspect your home, they will get a better picture of the damage that has occurred. When it comes to your foundation, severe damage can completely compromise the integrity of the entire structure and cause your house to be too dangerous to live in. So this is why it is vital to get a professional analysis. At Reliable Waterproofing and Masonry, we will inspect your bowed walls and discover where the problem began. For instance, is there a tree root causing hydrostatic pressure, or has severe precipitation and perhaps a lack of waterproofing lead to bowing foundation walls.

A Few Solutions For Bowed Walls

There are several solutions for bowed walls. When answering the question: are bowing walls serious, we can all agree that they are, in fact, quite serious. With this said, what can you do about this?

1. Exterior Drainage Systems: We can install state of the art drainage systems to keep your basement dry and to decrease wall damage. These exterior management systems provide more space for water to flow within the soil beneath a home. Some exterior drainage products include channel drains, sub-surface drainage, and dry wells.
2. Foundation Repair: Oftentimes, it is necessary to fix foundation issues before installing exterior draining systems. For instance, in order to properly install any new exterior system, proper wall anchors need to be in place, and helical and push piers should be in place to ensure a foundation’s safety before starting new waterproofing measures.
3. Interior Drainage Systems: Another great option to prevent bowing walls is to install interior drainage products. In fact, these diversion water systems take the increased moisture away from the foundation surface and filters it through an interior source like a sump pit.

We Can Fix Bowed Walls

Reliable Waterproofing & Masonry can help with your bowed wall woes. Reach our expert foundation contractors in Virginia today by filling out a form on our Contact Page. Or, Call our main office at 804-674-0273. Let us find solutions to all of your bowed wall issues AND all of other waterproofing and crawlspace repair.