Moisture around the foundation of your home can cause structural problems. The ground your home and yard walls are built on may absorb moisture. As it does, the soil can expand to many times its normal size, exerting pressure on the foundation. This is why the grade around the structure and the yard walls is very important. If the yard is graded properly, then moisture will move away from the foundation preventing excess expansion of the soils and will hopefully prevent any significant damage.

If after evaluating the grade everything seems to be in order, but you still have efflorescence, then the cause is probably the yard sprinklers. In the summer time the yard requires much more water than in the winter time. If the yard sprinklers are not set back during this time of year, then the moisture builds up in the yard. It then wicks through the rocks until it reaches the concrete around these structures. You also need to make sure that the sprinklers do not have water directly hitting the home or the yard walls. If you address this problem quickly it will generally go away.

If you have properly set your sprinklers and corrected any drainage issues and still have an efflorescence problem, then you may need to talk to your neighbors to insure they have set their sprinklers correctly. This is generally a serious issue when the neighbor’s ground level is above your yard. You will get a water line on your yard walls at the level of the adjacent yard. So, be sure and keep an eye on and address this issue quickly, so there is not an excessive amount of water around your home which will eventually lead to efflorescence and potential structural problems later on.

For more information, contact Scott at www.scottsauer.com.