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 Anderson, South Carolina 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.

Where the supports were located, the floor was fine, but, even a few inches away from the supports, you could see great dips in the floor.

When our crew went out to rectify the problem, they brought along beams as well as SmartJacks. The beams were installed horizontally, and the SmartJacks were fastened to the beams to push the floors back into place. Really they were the main stars here. 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.

This homeowner had been dealing with sunken, and bouncy for years before they decided to call us. These issues were caused by none other than a sagging crawl space, or more specifically sagging floor joists. This is not a new or uncommon problem that we run into here at All-Dry, it is actually we something we saw on a weekly basis. It is certainly an important issue that needs to be looked at and fixed sooner, rather than later.

The "before" picture shows what our crew was working with under the home. The clearance is quite low, especially considering our crew needed to dig an area out for each of the SmartJacks. Since the angle is so low and the floor joists weren't bowing too much, it is difficult to actually see the bend on the board. This is the same area that one of the five jacks will be installed in.

In the "after" picture, the installed SmartJack can be seen very easily. The hole has been dug for the jack to sit down in to properly support this part of the home. As mentioned earlier, five SmartJacks were installed to support this area, which was just enough to keep this homeowner from having to worry about a sagging, bouncy, and sunken floor.

This is a job that I'm going to have difficulty in keeping my personal bias and opinion out of, because this job could not have gone any better or turned out any more successful. Push piers do a great job, however, sometimes the damage is so severe that, even with our best efforts, the crack still does not seal back to exactly where it was. However, this project was much different. The difference between the before and after pictures are incredibly different.

This particular area had quite a long stair-step crack that went from the window sill, almost all the way down to the ground. While this was not one of the largest or longest cracks that we have dealt with, it was big enough to cause problems for the homeowner, especially if left unchecked. The duct tape that goes across the cracks help to see how much the gaps have closed after we raise the push piers.

 The after photo shows a much different story than the first photo. The difference between the two is amazing, and honestly, it is pretty difficult to see that there was actually a crack in this area at all. I think that this is one of the best-looking push pier projects that we have worked on, and it really does make a world of difference! Not only does it look much better, but it also secures a home, so that you the homeowner doesn't have to worry about this problem anymore.

This homeowner called us when they had a few different concerns about their basement. They had been struggling with water intrusion for quite a while, but there was an even bigger issue. The basement wall had been bowing for awhile and pretty significant cracking had occurred because of it. Fortunately enough these are both issues that we were able to take care of for the homeowner.

The "before" picture shows off the huge cracks that the homeowner was initially concerned about. At this point, the wall anchors had already been installed in the basement but there was still quite a bit more work to do. It is difficult to see exactly how large the cracks are, but they were significant in size. The only thing left to do at this stage is to continue to tighten the wall anchors, to continue closing the cracks.

The "after" photo looks quite a bit different than the previous one! This picture was actually taken after our crew had finished the installation and the homeowner had moved their things back into place. The basement looks much nicer than it did when our Systems Design Specialist visited the home initially. The crew installed BrightWall, which is the paneling along the wall. This helps to bring the unfinished area a much more finished look. The crew also installed wall anchor covers which are the grey rectangles along the wall. These covers provide access to the wall anchors for future tightening, while also keeping a clean look to the area. 

This homeowner was not only excited to have his water intrusion issues and bowing walls taken care of, but that the solution was both functional and looked great when all was said and done! They also thought it was great to be able to tighten the wall anchors over time.

A separating chimney can be extremely dangerous to a homeowner and anyone around the home. Chimneys are often at a higher risk from settlement damage because they are often poured on a separate slab of concrete than the home. While this chimney had separated quite a bit from the home, it definitely was not beyond repair.

The "before" picture shows just how much the chimney was separating from the home. While it does not look like much, the farther up the chimney that you look, the larger the gap is. The gap at the top of the home is more than likely an inch or two wide.

The "after" photo shows off the great work by our crew. You can see that the gap is now non-existent. Our crew installed two push piers on the back of the chimney in order to push it back towards the home. These push piers are a permanent solution to this homeowner's problem because these push piers are driven deep down to more stable soil, so that settlement will not be an issue ever again.