Weather affects you every day. It can affect the clothes you wear, whether or not you pack your trusty umbrella, or even how you chose to spend your day. Although weather plays such an intricate role in our daily lives, do you ever stop to think about how weather can affect your home? Texas’ extreme weather conditions and temperature changes can have negative implications on your home’s foundation. Understanding these changes will help you not let your home’s structural integrity fall by the wayside.

Hot Weather

Texans are not unfamiliar with the heat. Besides making us yearn for the cooler months, the dry air and high temperatures can negatively impact your home’s foundation. The weather conditions associated with a Texas summer can cause the water in the soil surrounding your foundation to evaporate. As water leaves the soil, it starts to contract and can thus leave your foundation uneven and cracked.

Heavy Rainfall

Just as dry weather can affect the soil under your home, so can increased rainfall. Following hot and dry seasons, water can fill pre-existing cracks in the home’s foundation, causing flooding under your home or in your basement. Soil that is over-saturated with water can also cause your home to settle or heave.

Cold Weather

When temperatures drop below freezing, the moisture in the soil surrounding your home will freeze. This causes the soil to expand and thus puts pressure upwards on your home. As this water melts in the warmer months it can cause flooding under your home, mimicking the conditions of heavy rainfall.

It is extremely important to get routine foundation inspections, especially after periods of turbulent and extreme weather conditions. Click HERE to schedule an appointment with CCM Engineering to get an evaluation on your home’s foundation.