Foundation Waterproofing & How It Protects Your Home

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Whether you own a home with a slab or crawlspace foundation, water and moisture can damage these below-grade areas. Foundation waterproofing solves this problem by forming a protective barrier that helps keep water away from your foundation walls and footings.

However, while that’s a crucial reason to invest in professional waterproofing services, that’s not the only reason why you need to ensure that your foundation is watertight. Let’s dive in and take a look at all of the benefits derived from foundation and below-grade waterproofing.

1. Preventing Structural Damage

One of the primary benefits of foundation waterproofing is the prevention of structural damage. Moisture that gathers around your foundation can create pressure against basement walls.

Over time, this hydrostatic pressure leads to cracks and a gradual weakening of the concrete. Proper foundation waterproofing ensures water is directed away from your foundation, reducing stress on walls and footings.

This not only helps preserve the shape of the foundation but also prevents serious structural issues that can arise if water is allowed to pool or seep into the walls, ultimately helping you maintain a stable house for the long term.

Heavy rain or fluctuating groundwater levels can cause the soil around your foundation to expand, contract, or even wash away if it becomes oversaturated. Foundation waterproofing helps manage water flow to keep this movement minimal especially when combined with proper drainage systems.

When soil is stable, it places less tension on your foundation walls, which lowers the risk of cracks forming in the concrete. By protecting against soil shifts, you also help prevent pathways for water to find its way inside, further strengthening your home.

2. Preventing Mold & Mildew Growth

Excessive moisture often encourages mold and mildew to grow, especially in dark, damp spaces such as crawlspaces. These fungi can deteriorate your home’s building materials and compromise indoor air quality. By keeping your foundation areas as dry as possible, you reduce the likelihood of mold spores taking hold.

Foundation waterproofing serves as a crucial shield for your home’s building materials, preventing costly water damage and deterioration that can compromise structural integrity over time. Beyond protecting concrete and wood elements, proper waterproofing eliminates the unsightly problem of efflorescence—those chalky white mineral deposits that form when water seeps through foundation walls and evaporates, leaving salts behind.

This not only maintains your property’s aesthetic appeal but also indicates that your foundation remains properly sealed against moisture intrusion. In California homes, where crawlspaces and slab foundations are common, this protection is particularly valuable for preserving the longevity of your investment and preventing issues that could require extensive repairs.

As waterproofing experts, we know that any evidence of mold or efflorescence indicates that improper waterproofing and a lack of ventilation are the likely culprits. If you see these signs, it’s best to contact waterproofing contractors as quickly as possible to remediate this issue.

3. Improves Air Quality

Many homeowners don’t realize that a good deal of the air inside the house originates from slabs and crawlspaces. When these areas are damp, the moisture can spread through the home, carrying musty odors and possibly even allergens.

By employing foundation waterproofing and crawlspace waterproofing techniques, you control humidity and reduce dampness in the lower parts of the building. This helps foster a healthier indoor environment for you and your family, ensuring that the air you breathe remains cleaner and less likely to irritate allergies or respiratory conditions.

4. Reduces The Risk Of Insect Infestations

Moist environments often attract pests like termites, roaches, and ants. These insects thrive in damp, dark areas, making an unprotected crawlspace or damp slab foundation an inviting habitat.  As Californians, we are all too familiar with the extensive damage termites cause each year—and the costly repairs that follow.

By sealing cracks and controlling moisture, foundation waterproofing discourages insects from entering the space and establishing colonies. Decreasing the water available to pests goes a long way toward limiting infestations, protecting not only your foundation but also your entire home from future unwelcome visitors.

5. Waterproofing Lowers Energy Costs

Many homeowners don’t realize that moisture can impact both heating and cooling. When humidity rises indoors, it can make the air feel warmer in the summer and less comfortable in the winter.

By controlling water infiltration through foundation waterproofing, you stabilize humidity levels, which helps your HVAC system run more efficiently. A drier environment often feels more comfortable, so you won’t have to run the air conditioner or fan as hard, ultimately lowering energy bills.

The Seismic Factor: Does Waterproofing Protect Against Earthquakes?

While proper waterproofing doesn’t directly make your home more earthquake-proof, it does play an important supporting role in your home’s overall structural integrity during and after seismic events. Here’s how they relate:

  • Foundation integrity – Waterproofing prevents water damage that can weaken foundations over time. A compromised foundation is more vulnerable during an earthquake.
  • Post-earthquake protection – After an earthquake, foundations often develop new cracks. A good waterproofing system provides a secondary defense against water intrusion through these new pathways.
  • Soil stability – Proper drainage systems (often part of comprehensive waterproofing) help prevent soil saturation around foundations. Saturated soil is more susceptible to liquefaction during earthquakes, which can cause severe foundation damage.

However, to actually make your home more earthquake-resistant, you need specific seismic retrofitting measures such as:

  • Foundation bolting
  • Cripple wall bracing
  • Moment frames or shear walls
  • Flexible pipe connections
  • Structural reinforcements

For LA-area homeowners, the ideal approach is implementing both proper waterproofing and seismic retrofitting as complementary protective measures. The waterproofing helps maintain the structural integrity that your seismic improvements are designed to protect.

Our Waterproofing Services

At Thome Waterproofing, we can provide any type of foundation waterproofing services you might need. This includes crawlspace waterproofing, slab waterproofing and even blindside waterproofing for large commercial structures. We serve homeowners as well as commercial clients so whether you need waterproofing for a single-family home, an apartment complex, a business park or another type of structure, we can help.

In addition to below-grade waterproofing, we also offer the following services:

Our team of waterproofing specialists can provide waterproofing during the early stages of construction as well as remediate issues in older, established structures. We also often can provide repairs to structures such as decks and balconies before the waterproofing process.

Need Foundation Waterproofing? Contact Us Today!

If you’ve been searching for “foundation waterproofing companies near me,” the team at Thome Waterproofing proudly serves clients in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and the surrounding areas. Whether you need foundation waterproofing or another of our services, we encourage you to contact us at any time for a free consultation.