A Simple Guide to Waterproofing House Foundations

When it comes to your waterproofing house foundation technique, it is important to note that special care needs to be taken as you work through the waterproofing process. Many people simply don't know that concrete absorbs water and think that, as long as their foundation is solid concrete they won't have to worry about water damage. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Even the smoothest concrete has pores that can hold moisture and, in turn, grow mold and mildew -- both of which decay the concrete underneath it.

It is important that, when you are building your home, you learn all that you can about the waterproofing house foundation services that your contractor and building services offer. It isn't enough to simply have someone tell you "oh yeah, we waterproofed your foundation." You need to understand what goes into the process.

Between fifteen and twenty years ago, most builders thought that spreading asphalt onto a house's foundation was a good enough method of providing waterproofing to the foundation and the home. Then, between ten and fifteen years ago, a person named Owens Corning added a rubber compound to the asphalt to give it more flexibility. Since then, other people have developed other rubber based compounds that hold a greater amount of elasticity than the original rubber and asphalt compounds.

Bentonite is a must when it comes to waterproofing house foundation. Bentonite is a special product made of natural clay that swells when it comes into contact with moisture. When water passes through bentonite on its way to foundation cracks, it breaks off bits of the bentonite clay as it flows which, when it reaches the foundation crack, causes the clay to "fall" into the crack and expand -- plugging up the crack and keeping the rest of the moisture out!

When deciding which foundation building company to employ, you will want to make sure that they are properly educated on the use and installation of drain tile. Drain tile is essential to waterproofing house foundations and while there are plenty of contractors and builders who know what it is, few of them know how to properly install it with your foundation. Do your research and make sure that your company knows how to work with drain tile.

The last thing that you need to be sure of with your waterproofing house foundation system is to make sure that the concrete used for your foundation is given enough time to set and reach it's optimal strength. Many companies will pressure you into backfilling your foundation as soon as possible. This could be dangerous as it can take up to a month before your foundation has reached even three quarters of its strength. Don't rush when you build your home!

Your foundation is what keeps your house standing. It is important that it be installed properly and that you do your best to keep the moisture and water away from it. When you work at waterproofing house foundation, you are essentially saving your home from eventual destruction and, really, who wouldn't want to do that?