A soaker hose seems to be the most efficient way to water a foundation, but keeping them strung around the house is unsightly. I would like to bury it, but if they rot out every 3 years or so, that would be too much of a pain. So how long do they last?

About 3-4 minutes has been my personal experience.

Just out of curiousity, why would you water a foundation?

Changing them out once every three years is too much trouble?

You sound like you need a sprinkler system.

tree

mine lasted 5 years in the flower bed

I don't think they would rot anywhere near that fast. I have a soaker hose that has been partially buried in one of my flower beds for about 5 years, and it's still quite flexible.

NeuroticAg, it helps stop it from shifting.

NA, I figure if I water the foundation, the house will get bigger.

I think ours lasted about 4 until my husband put the shovel through it!

Mine lasted until I forgot about it and put a shovel through it. About 1.5 years.

You can get perforated PVC or HDPE lines and bury them with a hose attachment for longer life.

hth

OK. The clay soil in the Dallas area is notorious for expanding and contracting based on the amount of rain given. By watering the soil 12" - 18" from the foundation, you keep more uniformed moisture throughout the year, and minimize the shifing of the soil and foundation.

Oh. makes sense.

Although the house getting bigger would be cool.

I plan to build sprinkler system-type controls into the plan (i.e. timer-controlled valves) so I can set it and forget it. I have tossed around the idea of drilling out 1/2" PVC and laying it in gravel, but I question if soaker hoses would last as long if they were also laid in gravel. I would think that the soaker hose would provide better distribution of the water than the PVC.

There is a great derivative in that title, but the wording hasn't come to me yet.

If you put either type of line in a gravel trench system, the porosity of the gravel vs the impermeability of the surrounding clay soils will provide for adequate saturation.

In most cases a good irrigation system can provide enough moisture to prevent excessive shrink/swell.

Don't use a soaker hose, use drip irrigation line that is designed to be buried.

Our back yard is quite large and had no water access. We buried PVC pipe and used flexible connections at the faucet and garden. Hubby rolled the tiller over the garden end after he had planted oats or something to be tilled in. He is dangerous with machinery.

Hmmm, I have thought about the drip irrigation hoses, but I don't know much about them. Do they need attachments like bubblers or somesuch to work? The ones that I am familiar with are thin-walled, and I question how long they would last. Is that what you are talking about?

I have worked for an Irrigation company.

Firstoff, soaker hose is total crap.

second, dont do it yourself unless you want to pay someone an arm & leg to come fix it when your water bill is sky high because of shifting dirt breaks your lines.

third, make sure you use high quality valves and controllers if you plan to make it automatic. (toro 1" "old style, flow controll" valves) (toro or hunter controller)

fourth, use good drip irrigation with emitters, not just holes drilled it a tube.



Or, just call a sprinkler co and have them do it when you decide to get a lawn sprinkler

There is also something called drip tape, which has laser-drilled holes all along it, so you don't have to add emitters. Tons of info out there on Google.

I'll check it out, Canyon. Thanks.

Thanks for your concern, too, Slim. However, I am fairly proficient at doing things myself.

Good to hear that.. the majority of home owners have trouble operating a hammer..much less installing drip irrigation

The best thing to do is shell out the extra $2K for geotechnical engineering, have the foundation designed by a registered professional engineer, and construct it as designed.

If the soil is absolutely horrible (PI>40) you'll probably have to go the route of a slab on grade on grade beams on drilled piers. It's expensive, but if you plan on living in the house for a long time it will pay itself off.

$2,000!

Or if you're already in a home, just spend <$100 on drip tape and a shovel.

Or if you have kids, just spend 15 bucks for a hose and send them out every evening to water it down.

Oops, I thought he was building a new house for some reason.

We wouldn't want to put the foundation repair companies out of business, would we, TexAg20?