Repairing a water-damaged wood foundation is not a task you can do easily, but here are four easy steps on how to repair water damaged wood foundation.
Wood foundations support the entire housing or building unit. It must be sturdy and free of damages to ensure safety.
Leaks from water pipes or water splashes and sprays can damage and cause structural failure in your home. To avoid unfortunate incidents caused by water-damaged foundations such as wood rot, better do inspections and repairs from time to time.
Steps On Repairing Water Damaged Wood Foundation
If you are thinking along the lines of having your wooden foundation repaired and hiring somebody to do it, why not try to do it yourself. Not only have you learned something, but you also saved some money. Here’s how you do your wooden foundation repair.
Step #1. Inspection
Before you start doing your repairs, you must first know the cause, where the damage is, and what repair you must do. Some signs of foundation damage are gaps and cracks in your house’s interior, such as walls and door frames. Shifting and misalignment are some of the results of wooden foundation damage.
When doing your assessment of damage, start to look at what you think is more exposed to water hazards such as posts near pipelines and waterways. This can save you time searching for potential damages as these parts of the foundations are near the primary cause of damage.
While you are at it, also check for other damage-inducing factors such as termites.
When you have identified the cause of the problem, plan how to deal with it first, or your repair would be in vain. If the problem is due to plumbing issues, you better call your local plumber or just do it yourself before starting the repairs on your wooden foundation.
Step #2. Repair or replace
After dealing with the source of damage to your wooden foundations, assess whether the damage needs repair or a replacement. It’s better to look at the type of damage your wood foundation has before doing the replacement.
If the damages are minimal and are limited to water stains and molds, it does not warrant a replacement for your wooden foundation. Just wipe the surface down and apply sealant or a waterproof coating so that moisture won’t further damage the structure and that molds won’t come back.
If you found small cracks on the wood foundation but the structure is still sturdy, you can decide whether to replace or just apply a sealant or filler into the gaps depending on your assessment of the damage. When the damages are pretty disturbing such as wood rot, softening of the wood due to excessive water exposure, and wide cracks, it’s better to replace the structure than patch it up.
When doing the replacement, don’t forget to put temporary braces and posts to support the area where the wood foundation needs replacing. Measure the foundation that needs replacement and cut your replacement accordingly.
Try selecting a wood of premium quality so that the structure would be long-lasting and worthwhile. Place and secure the new foundation in place before taking your temporary posts and braces.
Step #3. Apply protective coats
Ensuring that the newly repaired wood foundation would be preserved from damages, it’s better to apply various wood preserving methods in the wooden structure. Sealants, varnish, and paint primers would do good for your foundation.
Applying these kinds of protective measures will not only preserve your wood foundations from water damage, but also from other damage-inducing sources such as termites. Using preventive measures will always be beneficial in a lot of ways.
Step #4. Finish up
After doing your work on your foundation, it’s time to finish up. Restore back everything in place and secure your job correctly. Also, try to think of some more ways to prevent damages from occurring in your wooden foundations.
Things like setting up drainages, plugging holes and cracks in your roofing, and even landscaping would help. When preventive measures and maintenance are done correctly, the lifetime of any structure or furniture you have will be prolonged.
How long do wood foundations last?
The laboratory testing for wood foundations shows that treated wood foundations can last up to 100 years. Depending on the treatment, houses that are supported by wooden foundations can last up to 10 to 50 years. There are also environmental factors to consider, but more or less, the lifetime of these wood structures will depend on the quality to suit the application.
How to reinforce a wooden foundation
To reinforce a wooden foundation, you can try installing a foundation piering system. This would act as the base for your wood foundations. You can also attach a heavy-duty steel bracket for your foundation for stability.
Conclusion
Now that you have the general idea of how to repair water damaged wood foundation, it should be an excellent opportunity to try and do your home repairs from now on. Wood foundations are still widely used nowadays, and it’s not unusual if you know a few tricks on dealing with the repairs.