When you live in a home located on a hill, you are not spending much time thinking about that fact. Instead, you are likely focused on the beautiful views of a body of water, nearby woods, or perhaps open fields. However, what you don’t realize is having your house built on top of that hill could eventually lead to your home being seriously damaged in multiple ways. Though everything seems fine at the moment, here are some reasons why living on a hill can cause damage to your home.
Flooded Basement
Like it or not, water does not run uphill. Instead, it always runs downhill, often at a very fast pace when heavy rains arrive. As a result, your home on the hill could find itself with a flooded basement time after time. If you don’t want to deal with this problem over and over, you will need to look into options for basement waterproofing.
Foundation Problems
Over time, the rain that comes rolling down the hillside can result in soil erosion and your home starting to settle. While this doesn’t sound too bad, it may eventually lead to problems with your home’s foundation. Thus, if you start to notice cracks in your foundation’s walls or notice doors and windows start being much harder to open or close, you should call in foundation repair experts. Through a combination of drilling and examining your foundation, any problems can be detected and fixed as soon as possible.
Landslides
When the ground underneath your home starts to erode or get unsettled if you live in an area that is prone to seismic activity, your home could be damaged by a landslide. Since there will likely be other homes on nearby hills or positioned above your home, these homes could slide down the hill and crash into your home, possibly resulting in a total loss for your property.
Wind Damage
Should your home be built on top of a hill, it may be more susceptible to damage from high winds. Should a strong thunderstorm roll in, you may discover your home has roof damage from shingles being blown off or a tree that got blown down onto your home. To give yourself added protection, you may want to consider investing in a metal roof that is more resistant to wind damage, and perhaps cut down any nearby trees that could hit your home.
While none of these scenarios may ever occur at your home on the hill, knowing what problems could develop gives you the chance to be proactive to prevent future damage from taking place.