How much does home foundation repair cost? This is a question we are frequently asked. Foundation settlement can cause major structural problems for a home. Many homeowner insurance policies provide no coverage for damaged foundations, but home equity often makes financing available.
Some builders offer home warranty coverage for up to 10 years for major structural defects affecting occupant health or safety. Foundation repairs can be costly, but the more homeowners know about types of foundations and how best to repair them the better they can work with contractors to find affordable solutions.
Types Of Home Foundation Repair Costs
Foundation Problems
Foundations on expansive clay, compressible, or improperly compacted fill soils can suffer serious damage from shifting and settling. Signs of foundation problems, cracks in walls or doors that won’t close properly, make professional help an urgency.
Damaged foundations not quickly repaired may become irreparable and make the entire home unsafe. For any foundation problem, the longer the homeowner delays the repair the worse the condition becomes. Foundation problems never resolve on their own.
Structural Reports
The first thing to do about foundation damage is to obtain an inspection report and recommendation from a disinterested structural engineer likely to render an unbiased opinion as to the best solution.
If the homeowner goes first to foundation repair business professionals, they may want to sell solutions best for themselves but not necessarily for the homeowner. It is better to come to them with a professional engineer’s report and ask them to estimate the cost of executing the engineer’s recommendation.
Piering and Slabjacking
Two common methods for securing sinking concrete foundations are piering and slabjacking. In piering, underground supports lift the concrete and keep it in place. The repair crew digs deeply to install piers under the foundation, raise it hydraulically back into proper position, and stabilize it in place. This repair method places multiple piers at various points under the foundation.
Slabjacking pumps a grout mixture into the space beneath the concrete foundation to float it back into its original position. The reporting structural engineer can assess which repair method is better, all things considered, for the problem presented.
Piering, in most cases the costlier method because of the amount of labor needed for excavation and for installation of hydraulic piers, is always a permanent solution very rarely compromised by further settling or shifting of the earth. Slabjacking may be equally effective but more likely to be vulnerable to further structural shifting of the home from soil instability.
Two basic types of foundation problems are cracking and displacement caused by unstable soil conditions, tree-root penetrations, seismic tremors, faulty construction, or concrete deterioration from age, flooding, or long contact with excessive moisture. Other signs of foundation failure are uneven floors and cracked tiles.
Typical Home Foundation Repair Breakdown
Different costs may be incurred including an inspection report from a structural engineer or a soil composition analysis from a geotechnical engineer.
- simple crack repairs
- basement floor replacements,
- foundation reinforcement with anchor bolts, etc.
Most foundation repairs demand some underpinning by concrete or steel piers to secure the foundation on deeper, more stable soil.
Reach Out To Perma Pier Today!
A major foundation repair could remove landscaping around the home and require heavy equipment for tunneling. The project may last from a few days to several weeks.
It is important to determine the exact nature of the problem. Schedule a foundation evaluation with our Perma-Pier Foundation Repair of Texas team.
Written By: David Glenn. David is a home improvement expert that occasionally freelance writes about home maintenance and DIY home repair. He’s also knowledgeable about topics like how to improve social presence and building a reputation online. (edited 2021)
