Video: How to protect your homes foundation during a heat wave

TULSA, Okla. — Oklahoma’s clay-like soil expands and contracts according to how dry or wet the soil is. That includes the soil around the foundation of your home.

FOX23 went out with Derrick Wingo from Prolift Foundation Repair as he did some foundation repair work on a local house.

“We want to soak down the soil to try to get it back to normal standards,” Wingo said. “Right now, it’s extremely dry and we’re in a high clay basin in Oklahoma. So when the clay starts to get too dry, the soil dries out and the clay will shrink.”

To combat this, he laid a soaker hose around the house to put some moisture back into the soil. It’s a task he said he has to do before every job with last week’s temperatures above 100 degrees. But, just like the extreme heat caused these stress cracks, putting the hoses next to the brick can also cause cracks. To prevent that, he said he lays the hoses one to two feet away from the house.

Even when the side of the house is facing away from the sun, Wingo said it’s just as important to water it with either a soaker hose or a standard garden hose with a spray nozzle. He also explained it’s important to stand one to two feet away from the house and spray for five to 10 minutes in each area without spraying water directly onto the bricks.

For Wednesday’s job, homeowner Joe Tholen said he saw the crack getting worse with the recent triple-digit temperatures.

“It’s easier to maintain your foundation by watering it before it gets bad,” Tholen said. “It’s like a piano. It’s easier to keep a piano in tune than it is to get it back in tune. I didn’t water it and look where I am.”

It’s a lesson he wants other homeowners to learn so they don’t have to repair their foundations later.

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