Foundation Services Before & After Photos

The main beam in the ceiling of this basement had become warped from excessive use. To add extra support and to stop the floors from sagging from the floor above, we installed SmartJacks and a supplemental beam across the main beam. The result was a success. 

The outside brick on this home was cracking in a stair-step pattern. This happens when a house settles because the first place to crack is the weakest point in the structure. In this case, the mortar between the brick was the weakest link, so it was the first sign to show. We stabilized the sinking foundation by lifting the house back with our helical pier system. If you see cracking like this with your home, be sure to give us a call so we can give a free & honest diagnosis.

The crack you can see from the "before" picture from this basement in Goshen, OH, is very common. When a block wall experiences lateral movement, it will first start to crack in a horizontal line right near the frost line is in the outside soil. In the later stages of development, the crack will then expand to both corners of the wall in a stair-like pattern. Although a quite scary crack, we have seen it thousands of times and have repaired it thousands of times with our PowerBrace system. Our PowerBraces are made of steel and are coated in zinc to prevent rusting. They also have specially designed brackets at the top to prevent floor joist damage, and these brackets allow us to potentially straighten out the wall again through annual adjustments. The homeowner was relieved to know that we've seen this crack thousands of times, and that we were able to install a full-proof system. 

This homeowner called us because they noticed horizontal cracks in their foundation walls and they noticed that the walls were bowing in more and more over time. They knew they were going to need some reinforcing to protect their home, so they called us. We installed our steel zinc-coated PowerBraces on all the walls that were bowing in. PowerBraces are great because they are designed to not only realign the walls over time, but they also protect floor joists from damage, unlike alternative steel beams other contractors may install.

This home's foundation in Russellville, OH, was settling which caused cracks to form in the home's brick exterior. The biggest crack, (as seen in the before photo) started at the bottom left corner of the window and traveled downward in a stair step pattern toward the left. Stair step patterned cracks often appear in brick exteriors when the foundation starts to move. The mortar is usually the first thing to break because it is the weakest point in the wall. You’ll often see these cracks and gaps forming around windows and doors as well, since those openings create naturally weaker structural points that tend to show stress first when the foundation shifts. To stabilize the home, we installed our helical piers straight down underneath the foundation, and then we used our hydraulic device to lift the foundation back up to close the cracks. When we finished the project, we were able to guarantee to the homeowner that the home won't ever settle again where we installed our piers for the lifetime of the structure.