Foundation Repair Before & After Photos

The wood under this home was so bad that it was amazing someone hadn't fallen through the floor. Almost every single floor joist and girder was rotted or eaten by termites, completely gone in some cases. DryZone was hired to remove the old wood and replace it with fresh pieces. This process took almost two full weeks, as you can imagine it is not an easy task. The end result was a sturdy support system of new and dry wood. The homeowner expressed and interest in CleanSpace encapsulation as well, to prevent history from repeating.

This home was built somewhere in the 1930's. There weren't a lot of strict regulations on home building back then like there are today. At some point in the home's history, a homeowner tried to add supports to the sagging floors. The type of jacks that were used are only meant for temporary, light duty usage. When standing in the home, there is a noticeable dip in the floor towards the center of the house. DryZone was able to use the SmartJack support system to drastically improve the supporting structure. The SmartJack system is usually a crawlspace product. In this case, we were able to order longer poles for the jacks to accommodate the basement height. You can see the difference in size, certainly, but its the clean threads on the screws that make this system truly superior. The zinc plating on a SmartJack means that it will resist corrosion and can easily be adjusted if the need should arise.

When a home doesn't have a crawlspace or basement, how does DryZone fix a broken foundation? The answer is with slab piers. If the home is built directly on a concrete slab that sits directly on the ground, its the best option. The slab sinks and pulls on the walls. The easiest way to notice a problem is by looking at the baseboard or show molding at the base of the wall. In the "before" picture, you can see that the baseboard has a gap under it. That is a sign that the floor is settling. Slab piers are installed every few feet in a home and have a great chance of raising the floor back to level.

When a home settles and the floors start to sag it can be caused by several different things. One of those reasons is wet wooden support beams. The wood gets a little squishy when it is too wet and that can cause them to smash around the concrete columns in a crawlspace. Most of the time the damage is minor and easily corrected. Many people will try and wedge wooden shims up under the beams. But if the problem is wet wood, why would adding more wood solve the problem? DryZone uses metal shims for minor adjustments. The best way to ensure that this problem is permanently fixed is to dry out the crawlspace and keep it dry. Metal shims will help to correct the small damage before the wood cracks and rots.

PowerBraces are one of the great foundation support products that DryZone uses to stabilize a broken basement wall. These are generally used when an underground obstacle prevents a proper GeoLock wall anchor installation. The PowerBrace is a heavy steel beam and an adjustable bracket. It pushes on the bowing wall to provide support and carries a hefty warranty.