Before & After Photos

Foundation issues are a problem that should never be put on hold. As much as we want it to be able to stop, the problem will grow and become worse as time passes. This Lake Lure, NC homeowner had thought to hold off on getting his foundation issues fixed. However, after watching the floors continue to sag, he decided that he could put it off no longer..

When our team came to rectify the problem they brought along SmartJacks. The SmartJacks were placed under the floor joist of the home and then used to push the floors back into place. To install it, we excavate a two-foot cube at each SmartJack location. The hole is then filled with concrete or engineered to create a stable, loadbearing footing. The SmartJack sits on top of it with a custom-engineered base.

The customer had some major foundation issues that needed work done as soon as possible. You will see in the the pictures just how bad this customer's home was. While we did a lot of work in this home that was not just foundation repair, that part of the job is what will be focused on in this Before and After. In order to correct this major cracking in the foundation, we used several push piers to lift the house into a more level position.

The "before" photo shows the crack before the push piers had been installed. You can see how large this crack is in the foundation of the home. While some small cracks in foundations can (although they should not be) ignored, however this was not the case. Very rarely do foundations get this bad without a major event (i.e. sinkhole, earthquake) happening.

The "after" photo shows the same area after the push piers had been installed. The push piers are able to lift and level out the home. After the leveling is done, our installation specialists go back and fill in the crack, binding the two halves back together.

We were called to this customers home for cracks in the basement wall and water seeping through the wall. We installed Geo-Lock Wall Anchors to stabilize the bowing wall. We also installed Cleanspace Wall, DryTrak and a TripleSafe sump pump system.

The "before" picture shows the large crack that the homeowner discovered in their basement, indicating a bowing wall.

The "after" photo shows our Geo-Lock Wall Anchors. These anchors are able to correct the bowing of the wall, as well as prevent any further movement of the wall.

This homeowner had some very serious cracking on the side of their home. While these two photos show one of the more severe cracks on the home, it certainly was not the only area that needed some foundation support. As you may imagine, having large cracks in your home can be dangerous and very expensive if not taken care of quickly. To help get the home back to a more level and stable place, we use our Push piers, which are driven deep into the ground and help to raise the foundation, essentially pushing the home back together. Once back together, the crack is filled with mortar to seal it up.

In the "before" photo you can see that this crack was not small or could have easily been looked over. It was a huge crack that definitely needed to be taken care of. A majority of the crack is about an inch wide, while some parts (towards the top left) are almost two inches wide.

The "after" photo shows the difference that the push piers made in raising and leveling the foundation. The great thing about push piers are that, not only do they help to get the foundation to a level place, but they will not settle like foundation (which is the cause of the problem in the first place). So the push piers help correct the problem, then prevent the problem from reoccurring.

Foundation settlement is one of the most common causes of foundation problems that we see. The settlement is caused by the soil under and around the home shifting, because it is not packed down nearly as much as the undisturbed ground around it. The severity of settlement really depends on a couple of factors; one being, how tightly packed the soil was after the foundation of the home was built, and how long the homeowner has gone without addressing the problem.

Unfortunately, this homeowner had been living with this problem for awhile without getting it taken care of. As you can see from the before photo, the crack in this chimney is not just a small crack, but rather a huge gap. This is very dangerous, because you never know when something could happen and the entire chimney could come down. This is definitely something that you do not want to wait on, but rather get taken care of sooner, rather than later.

While the after photo is not the completely finished product, it does show the difference between the chimney before the push piers were installed and afterwards. As you can see, the gap has been almost completely closed through the raising of the piers. You can also see the difference that the piers made in the duct tape on the chimney, especially the piece on the right.