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Foundation Professionals understand your home is a tremendous financial asset, which holds your most valued and precious treasures, your family.

When the soil under your home becomes unstable, it can cause adverse effects to the foundation, your spa or pool deck area and seawall. Settlement occurs over time, but several factors can exacerbate it.

Water is the biggest culprit in soil erosion in the southeast. It’s the nature of the beast for this area. Excessive surface run-off water and/or groundwater causes erosion which creates voids or channels. Expansive soils owe their characteristics to the presence of swelling clay minerals. When highly plastic clayey soils get wet, the clay minerals absorb water molecules and expands conversely, as they dry the clayey soil shrinks, leaving large voids and shifting of the soil. If magically the soil could obtain a consistent moisture content, only then the soil would not change in volume. Expansive clayey soils in many parts of Florida pose a significant hazard to foundations for homes and other types of buildings. Swelling clays derived from residual soils can exert uplift pressures of as much as 5,500 PSF, which can do considerable damage to structures and foundations.

Decomposing organic matter can cause voids as decomposition advances. Soil fills those voids and consolidates which causes instability. Subterranean events can cause holes, depressions, or subsidence below your home and the land surface that may mimic sinkhole activity. These include subsurface expansive clay or organic layers that compress as water is removed, decomposing stumps or organic debris, collapsed or broken sewer and drain pipes or broken septic tanks, improperly compacted soil after excavation work, or decomposing or compressed buried trash and other debris. Foundations constructed above organics typically will fail over time.

Lack of compaction on new construction can cause instability, especially in areas where the soil is volatile to development like wetlands, marshlands or areas with a high water table or erosion concerns.

Signs of adverse effects can be cracks in walls, windows and doors won’t open or shut properly, broken or cracked foundation. For more signs on adverse foundation conditions, read more here.

Foundation Professionals brings 40 years of experience in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical engineering throughout the southeast. We know DIRT. We offer cost-effective ground modifications and repair solutions to permanently stabilize your home or building. These solutions are ideal for concrete slab, crawl space, and pile foundations.

Seawalls or retaining walls, by design, are meant to separate land from water. Similar solutions to foundation repair can be used for seawall repair. Florida alone has over 10,000 miles of waterfront property. Florida is ranked second to Alaska for the most waterfront property.