Does Winter Weather Cause Bowing Walls?
What are Bowing Walls?
Before we dive into what winter can do to cause bowing walls, what does “bowing wall” mean?
Imagine an archery bow. These have a slight curve to them; the further you pull the chord, the more curve the bow gets. This is the same concept with a bowing wall.
When pressure is put on the wall from the ground around it, the walls start to get a curve; this curve is referred to as a bowing wall. The more pressure, the more the wall will bow. The wall will proceed to bow until one of two things happens.
The wall can only bend so much until it breaks. You do not want this to occur. The two things that could happen are 1) you repair your bowing walls, or 2) the wall will eventually cave in.
Is Winter Causing my Walls to Bow?
The general cause of bowing walls is excess pressure from the soil surrounding your foundation. This is especially common throughout seasonal weather changes.
The transition from Fall to Winter is a particularly rough time on your foundation. In a lot of areas throughout the US, Fall can be very rainy and wet. Then when winter comes, the temperature drops and the ground freezes. This causes the water within the ground to freeze.
What happens when water freezes? If you don’t already know, when water freezes, it expands. This expansion causes pressure on the soil around it.
ECP Products for Bowing Walls
ECP manufacturers products made with American Steel here in the USA that fix bowing walls:
In addition, we also offer Carbon Fiber, which can be used on its own, or in conjunction with plate anchors and/or helical tiebacks for bowing wall repair.
If you are interested in any of these wall repair methods for your home, and would like to begin with an inspection to determine the best solution for you,
Contact a contractor today!