Soil Settlement and Poor Grading

The backfilled soil around your home will settle over time, and it can sink towards your foundation at a sloped angle. Ensure the ground around your home’s foundation has proper grading and slopes away from the home, not toward it. It should be at least one inch per foot for six feet. Draining water in the wrong direction can cause it to accumulate next to your foundation, contribute to hydrostatic pressure, and eventually seep into the basement. This is likely to happen when you don’t compact the fill dirt around the foundation.