On Mar 18, 8:08 am, "David Rothman" wrote:
"marson" wrote in message

oups.com...

On Mar 17, 8:32 pm, "MW" wrote:

Other people will say it, so I might as well be the first: check your
landscaping. Keep gutters and downspouts working. Wet clay soils are
tough to deal with.

if wet clay soil is bad against the foundation, what natural material would
be better? if i could dig up around a problem area and replace it with
'something' would coarse sand be a better choice? what about pea gravel?

i'm trying to protect one area and there is a drain there, but it's 2 feet
from the house. that two feet right now is wet clay soil. it's not leaking
into the basement, but i want to dig much of it just as a preventative. i'm
trying to figure out what to replace it with. thanks

clean sand is what you want. Wet soil can product hydrostatic
pressure and force water into a foundation. Sand will not exert
hydrostatic pressure. Of course, if the sand can get saturated, then
it does no good, so you have to have a means for the water to get out.