Huyvan Home Improvement Tips

Greetings and hoping that summer is finding you all healthy and well. As you can see we have integrated the July and August newsletters into one. Due to vacations and a general compression of time we have combined two into one and we are confident the added content will benefit you and your home.

Most people today who own their own homes either own a newer home (built within the last 20 years ) or own older homes (20 yrs and older ) Generally most homes are graded well . Albeit, with some exceptions, some older houses have issues when eavestrough is missing or not kept in working condition and/or maintained properly. When this happens, soil depressions or even little ditches appear all along where the water falls off the roof. If left unchecked, the siding and foundation gets stained from dirt splashing against it. Furthermore and much more damaging, is an erosion of dirt or settling which causes an inverse slope towards the house instead of away from it. This causes water to lay against the foundation and causes undue hydraulic pressure against your foundation. As well, if there are cracks in the foundation at those areas, very often leakage occurs in to the basement. In the subject house pictured here, it is around 20 years old, the eavestrough was tuned up and defective parts were replaced. The major problem here was settlement of dirt from the backfilling during initial construction 20 years ago and improper grading on two sides. To begin with, even the original sidewalk tipped toward the home. The garage floor was repaired and parging of the foundation was completed where deficient as well. River stone was removed along the walls, bagged and saved. Shrubs along the walls had grown too large, damaging the foundation as well, so they were removed including the roots. Next a major crack was repaired where it was chipped out in a v-groove from grade down to the footing and filled with 2 coats of none – shrink, high bond grout. After cleaning, a special primer and membrane was applied (parging completed above grade). This hole was then backfilled and packed with gravel to help prevent settlement and topped off with soil.

Next we dug out and added gravel and packed the base for a new custom sidewalk. To give it some style we gave it a curved design. Concrete was then poured complete with air entrainment, re-enforcing steel with a broom finish. Then once dry and after the forms were removed, the grade was brought up around the house. Ground cover was installed and river stone placed back with new stone added as required. Fresh topsoil was put down, seeded, fertilized and rolled to top it off. All components including the sidewalk and topsoil itself now have a positive grade away from the home. Good eavestroughing and proper grading around your home are the two most important elements to keep you high and dry. Enjoy your summer.

Jacob Huyer