Grading & Drainage with High Soil Lines
http://www.thearlingtonhomeinspectors.com – A-Action Home Inspection Group performed a home inspection at this 34 year old Fort Worth, Texas property and discovered some minor defects with the grading and drainage around the home.
During our home inspection we observed negative site drainage and high soil lines on the back side of these attached garage. This condition has caused some water intrusion within the garage area.
The soil around the garage area is above the brick foundation line. The high soil lines are also considered a conducive condition to termite activity and will promote water intrusion within the wall cavity. Current building standards recommended a 4-inch clearance between the foundation brick ledge that the soil (finished grade) around the house.
A-Action Home Inspection Group is a family-owned and operated business. We have been serving the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas metroplex and surrounding areas since 1995. We have completed over 30,000 inspections. We offer the best value and quality possible in all of our inspection services.
These short videos represent a very small portion of common defects found every day. If you like the videos or find them helpful to you, PLEASE DON’T FORGET to rank and comment on them.
February 13, 2010 @ 4:27 pm
Water intrusion and termites oh my.
July 5, 2011 @ 11:50 am
Let me summarize this 3 minutes video in one sentence AND also give you a
solution the viewer can understand. *Raise dirt around the perimeter of
your house.*
April 29, 2012 @ 4:39 pm
Can you recommend a company to come an regrade the side yard near Rockwall,
Tx / Dallas Tx?
February 20, 2013 @ 3:29 am
That summary would be great if it wasn’t completely wrong. The soil must be
lowered around the entire house and then from that point a downward grade
must be constructed away from the house. Just raising the dirt will cause
more water damage and make it more accessible to termites.
June 1, 2013 @ 12:48 am
The previous owner of my home added too much soil and raised the soil grade
level too close to the top of the foundation, It had termite problems and a
moisture problem one of the rooms. I am glad you showed a diagram using a
swale to correct the problem. The building codes in my area require top of
foundations or slabs to be at least 6 inches above the highest point of
soil at any location around the house. Thankyou for this valuable teaching
video.
October 16, 2014 @ 11:30 pm
Great video. Nice clear info. If you’re shopping for a house and see soil
line above the top of the foundations, you may well find rot / pest damage
in the sill plates. Like I did… after buying my home… :/