Block Foundation Lifted & Walls Stabilized in Clintonville, WI

Thursday, September 7th, 2023 by Moira Helein

Challenge

Chris had recently inherited the house after his mother passed away. This home has a special place in Chris' heart due to his family's connection with it and he wanted the house to be functional and efficient. They were getting their roof replaced and were worried that the foundation would affect it in the future if not addressed properly. The house was settling badly, and all of the foundation walls were settling except for one corner at the back. Evidence of this was visible in the foundation wall's mortar joints and the cracked concrete floor around the basement's full perimeter. One of the foundation walls was also bowing inward heavily. In addition, the door leading upstairs had to be "shaved" several times as it would start sticking, making it harder to close; windows were getting harder to slide open/closed. They also noticed more cracking in the drywall upstairs.

Before reaching out for advice, Chris and Kate continued to "shave" their door several times, and they noticed the upstairs drywall cracking continuously. They knew something more substantial was going on. They met with other contractors, not just to receive additional pricing, but to learn about what was causing these issues. During the interview process, Kate shared the competitor's price which she thought was too high and also shared didn't like that the competitor would need to tear up a part of their newly poured driveway to complete their work.

Solution

Since the homeowners didn't want their newly finished driveway torn up, their Sure-Dry Design Specialist, Allen, was able to figure out a way that their foundation walls could be stabilize from the inside of their home, vs. the outside like the other companies had proposed. Sure-Dry was able to install Push Piers to help lift and stabilize the foundation, and then installed the PowerBrace Wall Repair System on one wall and GeoLock Wall Anchors on another which would help to permanently fix the bowing issues those walls were facing. Sure-Dry could have installed Push Piers on the exterior of the home which would have lifted the house back to its original construction, but Chris and Kate preferred to preserve their newly poured driveway and so the Push Piers were installed on the inside to stabilize the foundation from moving any further. The homeowners loved Sure-Dry's option to repair from inside the home, saving their concrete driveway, and were happy that these products would not only stabilize their foundation, and fix the issues they were having with their doors and windows, but would allow them to proceed with the replacement of their roof which was their next project. All while preserving their new driveway.