Why is the blind area bursting? The secret of expansion joints!

The foundation is the most important element of the whole house. The service life of the entire structure directly depends on it. It often happens that the blind area, which protects the foundation from rain and moisture, cracks. This in turn leads to a decrease in the life of the entire house.

Why does the blind area burst and what is the secret of expansion joints? I'll tell you further in the article.

Bursting of the blind area can occur for three reasons:

1. From the rain. Raindrops run down the walls of the building and fall directly on the area between the foundation and the blind area. Moisture at the junction leads to swelling of the soil, which subsequently dries and settles. Because of this, the concrete blind area begins to crack. To get around this, you need to install high-quality gutters on the roof, and fill the joint between the foundation and the blind area with foam.

2. Loose earth. The ground under the blind area should be filled with a clay mass (castle). To do this, by the size of the blind area, the earth deepens by 15-20 cm. Further, the depression is filled with wet clay with gravel. The resulting mass is compacted.

3. Lack of metal reinforcement. For reinforcement, you can use metal wire or mesh (but not a chain-link), the diameter of which is about 0.6 cm.

The most popular cause of blind area crackling is the absence or poor-quality creation of expansion joints. First of all, this applies to situations when, under the influence of temperature influences, due to the absence of expansion joints, concrete begins to crack and burst.

The number of seams should preferably be determined by an experienced surveyor. However, subject to certain rules, an ordinary person can also do this. The height of the expansion joint must match the height of the foundation. The distance between each seam should be determined taking into account professional calculations. However, there are generally accepted norms for placing seams for houses that are made of various materials. So, for houses made of wood, the distance of the seams will be 60 cm. For brick houses, the joint pitch should be 150 cm.

It is also important to consider the immediate structure of the house. For example, for houses with outbuildings along the corner borders, it is necessary to make expansion joints, the average length of which will be 10-12 centimeters.

The listed secrets will allow you to forget about such a problem as the bursting of the blind area.