Foundation Repair

Hobo,NC · Mar 22, 2018

Over the winter this showed up

... Its under the carport its getting worst. All I know to do is call Ramjack whats your recommendation... History, there's been a small crack (white caulking) for as long as I can remember this crack is running in a different direction and the concrete has also cracked were the crack meets the concrete. I ran a French drain around the house 3 years ago we had a extremely dry summer no water is getting under the house. I had planed to replace all the windows this spring the crack has to be addressed first. About 20 years ago I replaced this window I measured it wrong so had to encase it with wood. Silicon must bond to it good were the brick pulled away it split the wood.
BTW no cracks on the front side of the house just under the carport...

Pole has also moved on roof support.

bjb in TX from Ne · Mar 22, 2018

What type of soil do you have? It appears you have differential settlement, which could be due to plastic clay. It is a major problem in Houston and my house in particular has 46 bell bottom pier installed. However,
because they are not deep enough my house still moves every year depending on how dry it is.

Find a local engineer that specializes in foundation repair to come look at it. They can then do a report for the foundation repair companies on the location, type of support that needs to be installed, and how deep.

Steve@Advance · Mar 22, 2018

My house did that about 10 years ago.

Had it piered the old fashioned way, dig down and pour concrete blocks, jack up the foundation and block it with steel pipe.

Had to have the garage done first, then the rest of the house started settling, had to have more piers...

About $12,000 later, it still settles if I let it get dry. I ran perforated irrigation hose all the way around, they are on times, stay on most all summer. I found the only way to keep it level is to keep the ground wet. If I ever let it get dry, the cracks start opening until the next rain.

Be careful who you hire. Get several quotes, do a lot of homework. That is a notoriously bad job to hire, both from incompetence and shady operations.

gregww · Mar 22, 2018

I m no expert on these matters, but it seems to me the only way this can be properly fixed, is from the bottom up. Meaning down to or below frost line. I am not familiar with Ramjack. I am assuming it is a company that pumps grout under a concrete failure, to jack it back up. I have had this done to a concrete slab, and it lasted about 2 years. The slab fell again. Not as far, but it did fall. Unless Ramjack was willing to give you a lifetime warranty on their work, I would not trust this method with this amount of failure. Another thing to remember, a lot of times a warranty isn't worth the paper it's written on. It would take a reputable lawyer to decipher most written warranties today. You don't mention if you have a basement or not. Sometimes people think I am stupid for asking that question, as basements are not at all common in some parts of the country. Where I live, very few houses are built without a basement. If it has a basement, it may not be as big a job as you might suspect.

john in la · Mar 22, 2018

About all you can do now is call ramjack; cable lock; or one of several other foundation repair places.
Let them come in and jack it up and level it.

You may have exacerbated the problem by adding the drain.
Now the edge of the house is dry and the center of the house is wet.

tomturkey · Mar 22, 2018

Yep, somethings movin....good luck gobble

Stephen Newell · Mar 22, 2018

Most of the time I don't recommend a place like ram jack but in this case I think it's needed. It's not a permanent fix like they advertise and very expensive especially since they will have to jack hammer the patio to do it. What it really needs is to dig out under the foundation and pour a larger concrete footing.

You might keep some plywood on hand. I think if it settles any more it will bust that window.

Hobo,NC · Mar 22, 2018

This old house :twisted: To answer a few questions it sets on clay, clay that's orange to tan, 8 to 12" of top soil when you get down to 30" you hit red shale... My further son in-law is some kind of foundation engineer he said call ram-jack... They will cut the concrete jack it up and pore a new foundation under the old. I have asked every builder I know they think I now got rid of the water its dry and suffering from shrinkage. I had the rotten band replace in the old post (see link) a year ago he added another beam under the living room that runs down the center of it I don't think that caused the problem. No basement the house sits on the side of a small hill built in 1963... I grew up in this house as long as I can remember water got under the house it never was a problem. I have seen water run under it during a storm dad knocked a hole on the down side it had a way out... I took care of that tho... I am not going anywhere I am going to fix it...

http://forums.yesterdaystractors.co...ostorder=asc&highlight=drain&start=15

Foundation Repair

Hobo,NC

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bjb in TX from Ne

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Steve@Advance

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gregww

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john in la

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tomturkey

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Stephen Newell

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Hobo,NC

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