School me on soaker hoses. We have a 10 yo house in central Austin. The soil expands/contracts. We have cracks on one west side of house only. Do you use soaker hoses against foundation or a foot or so away?

How's the humidity in that part of your house? Why do you think it's foundation related?

People don't realize this, but it's not always foundation related. The wood framing of a house can get wet and swell, expand, and rot away if the water issue is bad enough.

The soil is a dark clay that swells and shrinks and affects streets, fences, and houses. I'm not sure about the humidity in the house but we do keep windows and doors open during Spring and Fall as weather permits.
The first year in the house you could hear plenty of popping which I assumed to be framing drying out and settling. There are cracks in our back deck and pool deck which are the reasons I suspect the slab settles more in the Summer.

In my two story house, we had the same kinds of cracks over a ten year period. Parts of the year they showed up, parts of the year they disappeared. I did not do anything about it just because the soaker hose was a pain in my ass.

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School me on soaker hoses. We have a 10 yo house in central Austin. The soil expands/contracts. We have cracks on one west side of house only. Do you use soaker hoses against foundation or a foot or so away?

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Not up against the foundation...preferred 18" away!

Gary79Ag said:

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Not up against the foundation...preferred 18" away!

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Not denying whether that is true or not, but what is the reasoning behind that?

RC_57 said:

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Gary79Ag said:

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Not up against the foundation...preferred 18" away!

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Not denying whether that is true or not, but what is the reasoning behind that?

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Soaker Hose Placement can be Critical

Thank you

Thanks Gary

Don't use the cheap soaker hoses from a box store. Get the heavy duty kind that landscapers use.

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Don't use the cheap soaker hoses from a box store. Get the heavy duty kind that landscapers use.

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My preference is drip irrigation tubing not soaker hoses. Soaker hoses will emit a lot of water towards the source faucet and barely any at the end. This tubing emits evenly throughout the hose. Put them on a timer also.

PlanoAg98 said:

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Don't use the cheap soaker hoses from a box store. Get the heavy duty kind that landscapers use.

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My preference is drip irrigation tubing not soaker hoses. Soaker hoses will emit a lot of water towards the source faucet and barely any at the end. This tubing emits evenly throughout the hose. Put them on a timer also.

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That's it. I use them in my vegetable garden.