Soaker Hose Foundation

Soaker Hose Foundation: Using soaker hoses, you can set up a foundation watering system that can keep the soil under your foundation from contracting during extreme weather. This can stop the shifts that stress the support structure under your home.

Do I Need to Water My Soil to Prevent Foundation Damage?

There are a few factors that can make your foundation susceptible to soil-related damage:

• Any soil can shift with varying levels of moisture. However, clay soils expand and contract the most.
• The worst shifting happens during droughts and extreme heat in areas that get heavy rainfall the rest of the year.
• Slab foundations and pier-and-beam foundations are more susceptible to shifting than waffle slab or ribbed slab foundations.
• Nationally, North Texas, Central Texas and Oklahoma have the worst problems with foundation shifting due to the heavy clay soil and extreme summer temperatures in those areas. However, no matter where you live, you need to water the soil if you see the ground pull away from your home’s foundation.

Soaker hoses can be an effective and efficient watering tool for beds, shrubs and trees. But use them incorrectly and you may be blindsided with a huge water bill. Soaker hoses are a great way to water perennial beds, shrubs and trees. They’re so inexpensive you can buy several and leave them snaked around throughout your landscape.

The most common mistake in using soaker hoses is turning the water on too high. We often hear from homeowners surprised by a large water bill because they left a soaker hose on for several hours at full water pressure. It’s more effective to turn the faucet only partially. This allows enough water to flow through the hose so it will slowly seep out into the soil.

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Why Use a Hose to Water?

Setting up a sprinkler and walking away is a convenient and good way to water a lawn. However, for beds and walkways, it can be tough to hit every spot using a sprinkler. Additionally, an in-ground, automatic sprinkler system that gets to every corner is costly. For your beds and other areas of plantings, using a hose is an inexpensive way to water. You can reach every nook and cranny by walking around the yard with a hose. You will need a good nozzle to water different types of plants and beds though.

Soaker Hoses and Your Foundation

Soaker hoses should be placed around your foundation. It helps to bury them a few inches deep, generally 4 to 6 inches from the edge of your foundation. By burying the soaker hoses, you help to direct the water down and you also help keep the sun from deteriorating your hoses. Soaker hoses must be used more frequently when it is dry and less often when it is wet. It is a good idea to reset the timers on your soaker hoses monthly to reflect the weather.

Soaker hoses should not be buried in deep trenches at the bottom of grade beams. Although such positioning will place water exactly where it is needed, there are real hazards associated with leaks. A leaking hose, or one that emits water unevenly, can saturate the soils under a grade beam, and adjacent portions of a foundation leading to soils expanding (heaving). Heaving soils are a serious problem that needs to be avoided.

How Does Watering Your Foundation Help Anything?

Foundations are well-balanced and sturdy. But there are certain scenarios that threaten this stability. Droughts pose a big problem for foundations. Dry ground, especially consisting of clay soil, contacts and provides less support for your foundation. The result is simple but severe. Your foundation starts to sink.

The situation may become more complex when the soil contracts in an uneven fashion. As a result, your foundation could sink in various directions on different levels. Returning moisture to the soil could create further problems.

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Soaker Hose Benefits

• Soaker hoses are a reliable and eco-friendly way to deliver water straight to your plants.
• Soaker hoses are great for small areas that require a good soaking.
• Easy to install
• You can use soaker hoses with a pressure reducer.
• You can use a soaker hose with any Hozelock compatible micro-irrigation fittings.
• Can be covered with mulch to help retain soil moisture and hide from sunlight.

Soaker Hose Disadvantages

• A soaker hose may degrade over a shorter period of time (4 years).
• The unregulated water release of a soaker hose is not as efficient (roughly 4lph per metre).
• Run in lengths up to 20-30 metres.
• You should only use a maximum of 50 metres in a single zone.

Also Read: Foundation Soaker Hose