Before & After Photos

When water enters the ground, soil begins to expand. During this expansion, soil will go any and everywhere possible. A lot of the time that can mean pushing in your foundation to make more room. That’s why the walls in this Grand Rapids, MI basement were beginning to bow inward. The house was built over 50 years ago, so it had been dealing with pressure from soil for a long time. As the soil continued to push on the walls, vertical cracks began to develop. These cracks are what initially drew the homeowner’s attention and caused him to call us. To fix the wall, the crew installed the PowerBrace system. The beams in the after photo are bracketed to the floor joists in the ceiling and attached to the basement floor. By spanning the height of the wall, the beams will prevent any further inward bowing. And thanks to the tightening ability of the brackets, the beams will actually improve the condition of the wall over time.

This homeowner called because she noticed the floors above her crawl space were sagging. Our team visited her home and found that her floors were sagging down around 2 inches and the previous owner re-sided the house to cover up the bad foundation problems.

Thankfully, we knew just what to do. We decided to install the SmartJack stabilizer system to lift her floor back to the original position. This system works by taking out a cube of soil and filling it with concrete or compacted crushed stone, which will make sure weak soil is not an issue when installing the jacks. A structural footing is then placed on top of the fill and a galvanized steel column is installed and measured to fit your crawl space perfectly. The column is connected to the girders above and tightened into place to stabilize the girder and floor joists, which lift the floor back to the original level. This system is extremely effective because it can hold up to 60,000 lbs. and makes sure to transfer the weight beyond the weak foundation soil.

This customer had a garage wall that was cracked, bowing inward and he believed it was starting to settle as well. The garage wall had been like this for almost 3 years but it was time to get it fixed before the entire garage collapsed. 

We were able to install our wall anchor system to fix this garage wall. We placed 5 anchors on the wall that will work over-time to straighten it back to its original position. Wall anchors are very versatile because they can fix bowing walls, walls that are pushing in at the botttom and even ones that are just tipping in at the top. These anchors are also not attached to the floor system so you don't have to worry about any issues there. They also really restore property value and are quick installation. 

This customer noticed a crack had formed in his garage wall over the past few years. Stairstep cracks are a telltale sign that your wall is failing. A failing wall is not good for resale value and definitley not good for the saftey of you or your family. It's a good idea to get foundation issues addressed as soon as possible so it doesn't create more a problem. 

For this wall crack in the customers garage we were able to install our Wall Anchors to fix the problem. Wall anchors are a very versatile repair method because they can fix: bowed walls, walls that are tipping, and walls that are pushing inwward. These anchros are installed independently of the floor system so they are a good choice to fix very severe problems. They can also be tightened over time to make sure your wall is getting back to its original position. Wall anchors can be installed around pipes, vanities, sinkes, toilets and so much more which make them a great minimal disturbing choice for repairing your walls.

This Grand Rapids home has some stairstep cracks on the basement walls and the owner is worried that the support is weak. We used CarbonArmor to support the wall and make sure more cracks don't get worse. The CarbonArmor Wall Reinforcing System is made up of carbon fiber fabric straps, that are stronger in tension than steel, and the straps are bonded to the wall with an epoxy resin. The straps will stabilize the wall and the best part is that the system requires no exterior excavation and won't impact future basement finishing.