Basement wall bowing is common in cities like Indianapolis because of the soil of the region. Around 795,000 acres of land in Indiana are made up of the Miami soil series, which are silt loam for the first eight inches and then heavy in clay past that first layer. Clay soils have slow permeability and are able to retain moisture really well, so the soil around your foundation is constantly saturated with groundwater. When too much groundwater accumulates against the basement wall, the weight of all that water puts pressure on the wall. This pressure, known as hydrostatic pressure, is what causes the wall to bow inward. At first, the bowing is very subtle and difficult to detect. However, as the wall strains against the pressure, the bowing becomes more noticeable and cracks begin to appear along the wall. As the cracks become bigger and the wall detaches itself from the floor, the groundwater seeps into your basement, both through the cracks and the wall-floor joint. If the bowing is allowed to advance too much, the concrete blocks that make up the wall might even become loose and pop out of the wall, exposing the soil and causing a flood. Every time it rains and every time snow melts, water seeps into the ground and accumulates against your foundation. You may not be able to stop water from seeping into the soil, but you can prevent it from accumulating against your basement. The best way to prevent hydrostatic pressure is to control the amount of groundwater around your foundation with an interior perimeter drainage system. With Indiana Foundation Service, you can get AquaStop BasementGutter, a drainage system that is installed right at the wall-floor joint of your basement. The drain is capable of collecting the groundwater all around your foundation and sending it to the sump pump, effectively relieving the walls of hydrostatic pressure.