Maintenance is the process of regularly checking and repairing something to maintain its good condition. Our building’s components also need regular maintenance. Two main components that require regular maintenance are the building’s foundation and concrete surfaces. Their maintenance can increase the stability and durability of your property. These two components are essential in protecting your property from structural damage. Therefore, routine maintenance is necessary to prolong the life of your concrete surfaces and foundation. It also prevents these components from costly repairs and replacements.
Here, we discuss some maintenance tips for these structural components.
Maintenance Tips for Building Foundation
Grade the Land for Proper Drainage
Verify the proper grading of the soil surrounding your foundation. Instead of flowing toward the foundation, water should flow away from it. This can be attained by ensuring the ground slopes away from the foundation.
Additionally, make sure your downspouts and gutters are in good working order and are directing water away from the foundation. Inadequate water management can seriously harm foundations.
Maintain Gutter and Downspout Maintenance to Prevent Expensive Foundation Repair
Regular inspection of your gutters and downspouts is crucial to prevent clogging or damage. When gutters or downspouts are in poor condition, water can overflow and collect near your foundation, aggravating soil problems and raising the possibility of damage.
To save yourself from an expensive foundation repair, check that your downspouts are successfully diverting water away from your house and clean out the gutters. Downspouts and gutters should ideally divert water at least three to four feet from your foundation.
Control Moisture Levels
In addition to controlling external water, managing moisture levels around and beneath your foundation is vital.
Use a dehumidifier: To avoid moisture accumulation, keep humidity levels in crawl spaces and basements between 30 and 50 per cent.
Install a sump pump: For homes in regions with high water tables or regular severe rains, a sump pump can help eliminate extra water from beneath the foundation.
Repair plumbing leaks promptly: even minor leaks might cause serious moisture problems. Address any plumbing issues immediately after you notice them.
Avoid overwatering near the foundation: To prevent puddles, ensure water is directed away from the house when watering your lawn or garden.
Tips for Concrete Maintenance
Pouring and Curing
The optimal temperature for pouring and curing concrete is between 50 and 90 degrees. Excessive extremes in either direction can undermine the quality of the outcome. When too cold, the freeze-thaw cycle can cause concrete to expand and contract, creating cracking and spalling. In other words, concrete must be adequately cured to reach its optimum endurance.
Concrete Sealing
Concrete sealing involves applying a protective coating over the surface or incorporating it into the concrete’s pores. This process forms a moisture barrier, protecting the item from stains and damage.
Different kinds of sealers are available, such as topical and penetrating sealers, each providing varying degrees of protection.
Sealing concrete helps prevent moisture absorption into its pores. This is essential during freeze-thaw cycles, as retained moisture can freeze, expand, and result in surface spalling or cracking.
Furthermore, concrete sealing protects your building from salt damage, oil stains, and mold growth.
Avoid Deicing Chemicals
According to experts, concrete should not have deicers applied to it, especially before a year has passed. Interestingly, deicers are not the cause of problems but rather the increased number of freeze-thaw cycles they induce.
Deicing chemicals work by chemically decreasing the temperature at which water freezes. As they work, deicers transform snow and ice into a briny solution using salt. This solution keeps thawing and refreezing as the weather and temperatures fluctuate, allowing the concrete to withstand many more freezing and thawing cycles than it otherwise would.
Furthermore, the saline solution continues to migrate into the porous concrete, where it expands and contracts. Remember that water volume rises around 9 per cent when it freezes and expands!