Bowed Basement Walls: Causes & Repairs

Walls are meant to be straight, sturdy, and durable. When homeowners begin to see leaning or bowed walls, natural panic occurs. Bowed walls is one foundation problem that does cause homeowners stress, and we have outlined the causes and repairs to keep your home healthy and safe. 

PierMagic is owned and operated by Kansas City business owners. As the highest rated foundation repair company in Kansas City, we do free home inspections and will let you know exactly what needs to happen to fix your home’s foundation. Bowed basement walls can become problematic quickly, so don’t wait to see if the issue worsens. It will, and it will become more expensive of a foundation repair.

RELATED: Reasons Your Foundation Could Buckle

What Causes Basement Walls to Bow?

There is several factors that can cause basement walls to bow. Often the soil surrounding your basement walls naturally hold a lot of water during a wet cycle in the weather pattern. The soil absorbs the water and begins to expand putting pressure on the foundation walls. Johnson County, Kansas, along with all of the Kansas City metro area are susceptible to clay soil, which can expand and condense with the wild weather in the Midwest. 

Common reasons soil will expand:

• The footing drain does not work properly which causes moisture to build up due to poor drainage.
• The soil was not compacted properly before being backfilled when the home was built.
• The home’s gutters are clogged and not effectively pushing water away from the home.
• Improper grading around the home can cause water to accumulate around the foundation.

All of these problems can cause the soil around the home to hold extra moisture which causes the soil to swell and expand, placing a huge amount of pressure on the home’s foundation walls. As a result, the walls will begin to bow inward.

How to Fix Bowed Basement Walls

We take several measures to ensure the home is fixed and the walls will not bow again. To fix the home permanently the expansive soils surrounding the home must be dug up and removed. A new drain must be installed to ensure proper drainage. We replace the old expansive soil with gravel because gravel is stable and will not expand in wet conditions. It will also allow the new drain to function properly. Then we install tie back anchors and wall braces to straighten and level the wall and keep it from bowing in the future. We then place a small amount of soil on top of the gravel so that homeowners can plant flowers and bushes around their home.

As a homeowner, if you see your basement walls bowing inward, give PierMagic a call right away and we will do a free home estimate. Bowed basement walls are serious problems that need to be treated right away, at the most opportune time before the problem worsens. Worsening problem = more expensive. Call us today to get scheduled!