Wall Bracing and Sealing for Your Foundation

Most homeowners know that basement waterproofing is a benefit to your house. Fewer homeowners are aware of various aspects of foundation setup and repair. This includes wall bracing and seal foundation. Here’s an explanation of these techniques and why they’re important.

Wall Bracing

The integrity of your home’s foundations is always important, and it can be threatened by wind, frost, earthquakes, flooding, erosion, extreme temperatures, or flaws in the design or construction of your home. These factors can cause your foundation walls to buckle or bow. Bowing means the walls curve inward due to pressure from above. Bowing and buckling can cause cracks, leaks and other problems.

The wall bracing process involves a basement contractor using special materials and expertise to reinforce the walls of your foundation. This often involves attaching steel vertical braces that run the full height of the interior wall, from floor to ceiling. They keep the walls from bowing further inward and help support the weight above.

Other options include:

Carbon Fiber Staples: This method is commonly used in conjunction with crack filling. The cracks are first injected with a filler material to repair them and are then cross-stitched with carbon fiber staples.

Carbon Fiber Straps: These are installed in a grid system to stabilize bowed walls with minimal disruption to your home.

Helical Ties: These are used for more damaged walls, often in combination with carbon fiber reinforcement. They’re attached to the exterior of the basement wall underground and then installed in deeper soil more suitable to carry the load of the home. This deeper soil will resist the pressure of surrounding soils and the ties will pull the walls back into alignment.

Foundation Sealing

Every home has some sort of foundation. It could be cobblestone, concrete, or brick. It provides a solid base for the rest of your home. Advancements in foundation construction have made the basement a valuable place to increase a home’s living space, making it more important for contractors to insulate, prevent moisture, and resist the earth’s movement around it.

The proper sealing of the foundations is a crucial and early step of the construction process. If done improperly, the basement can start flooding before the home is even built. Or it can flood soon after construction, prompting callbacks. Sometimes the foundation needs to be re-sealed years after construction, due to various factors of wear and tear. A good basement waterproofing contractor will give you a free inspection and tell you what needs to be performed to make sure your foundation is properly sealed.

The basement waterproofing solutions from Everdry Waterproofing keep homes in Milwaukee, WI dry starting at the foundation where most water problems begin. Keeping water out of your basement will limit the growth and spread of mold, protect your belongings, and add function to your basement. Have questions about our waterproofing techniques? Our friendly team of professionals is here to discuss all of our services and answer any questions you have. Contact us to schedule an estimate and get one step closer to having a dry basement free of mold!