Voss also advocates having a lawn with a proper network of plant roots. By contrast, if you water your lawn for thirty minutes straight, twenty minutes of that water will flow off your soil and be lost.” “To properly hydrate clay soil, you have to water for a short amount of time, let the water soak in, repeat. “The water infiltration rate for clay soil is low and slow,” Voss said. Part of their duties includes teaching agricultural best practices to residents. normally takes care of most of your foundation’s moisture needs.įor a specific focus on maintaining house agriculture, I turned to Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Agents Brad Voss and Chase T. According to Hagos, watering your house’s green spaces - your lawn, plant life, etc.

Watering your foundation directly isn’t required. “Maintain gutters and downspouts to ensure water flows away from the house when it rains and make sure there’s not any standing water near the downspouts.” “Make sure your plumbing systems are working properly because any leaks in water or sewer lines can add water under the foundation and cause soil movement,” the Realtor added. My initial concern was the foundation drying out and shifting, but unwanted moisture is also detrimental explained Hagos. If you start seeing cracks larger than around a dime in width then that’s a problem.” “It’s essential that you properly care for your foundation or your property may shift more than usual. “North Texas has a lot of ground activity because of clay soil properties,” said Mical Hagos, the Keller Williams Realtor who helped me buy my house. Combine that soil with Texas summer heat, and maintaining a foundation can seem like a daunting task to either first-time homebuyers like myself or new Texas residents unfamiliar with clay soil. North Texas is built almost entirely on clay soil, which expands when moist and contracts when dry.

I bought my first home last summer, and maintaining my foundation is already a constant worry. They can also wreak havoc on house foundations. Higher temperatures don’t only mean high air conditioning bills.

Mical hagos