This home had been suffering from some pretty serious foundation issues for awhile before they decided to call a professional to help with the issues. When our System Design Specialist went out to the home he noticed several large cracks on both the inside and outside of the home. While this seemed to be a huge issue (and would be if not taken care of), however our Specialist was able to figure out a solution with just a few push piers.

The main crack that can be seen in the before photo is a stair-step crack on the back wall. This was a pretty large crack, between a half inch and an inch wide, but it could certainly be closed up through the help of our push piers. There is also some other minor cracking along the left-hand wall, which is difficult to see because of the angle of the photo. 

This after picture is not as clear to see because the items that had been along the walls of the basement were moved back into place, however there has been quite a bit of progress made between the two photos. The large crack along the back wall was brought back towards its original position and the crew re-grouted the crack. The crack on the left hand wall was also fixed and the same was done for it. 

CarbonArmor Fabric is a product that we don’t get to use that often, so when we do get to use it, we like to show it off! CarbonArmor is made up of carbon fibers that are woven together. Many people have heard of carbon-fiber before, but don’t always know what it is or what it can do. Carbon fiber is an excellent product to use (especially for a job like this) because its immense strength but also because of its weight, or lack of it. Carbon fiber is 10 times as strong as steel, however, it is 5 times lighter.

The “before” photo shows what the basement looked like before the CarbonArmor Fabric was installed. While you are not able to see any visible bowing on this particular wall, you can see some stair-step cracks on the back wall. These cracks are almost always a sign of bowing walls or another type of foundation issue.

The “after” photo shows off the installed product, CarbonArmor Fabric. As you can see, there are four strips in this small section of the basement, over twenty were installed in total. While there is not that much of a visual difference between these two pictures, just having these 4 small strips will do this homeowner a world of good. Let’s not forget about what was mentioned earlier, carbon fiber is 10 times stronger than steel. Would you rather have a small strip of carbon fiber or a steel beam that is much weaker?

Basements can have a lot of different problems, all of which can be quite serious. The most common problems we see in basements are bowing walls and water intrusion, often around the joint where the floor and wall meet. These are both serious issues that should be taken care as soon as possible. Many of the homes we work on have both of these issues at the same time, such as the home that is shown in these photos.

The first photo shows off one of the basement walls that was dealing with both water intrusion and had some cracks had started to develop. Our System Design Specialist inspected the entire basement area and came up with a solution that would take care of both the water intrusion and the cracking along the walls. 

The second picture shows the same wall after our crew came out to the home and installed both our CarbonArmor Straps and WaterGuard drainage system. The CarbonArmor is installed in order to prevent any further bowing and cracking on the wall. The WaterGuard was installed on the floor of the basement against the wall. It leaves a small gap between the floor and wall, which allows water to get through. We also installed a sump pump in this basement to pump out any and all water that gets into the basement. 

When it comes to chimneys, most people worry about bats or birds moving into them, but our All-Dry of the Carolinas team worry about something else entirely. Once a chimney ages, it will settle according to the foundation of the earth. Gravity takes over and begins to cause damage to the structure. In this case, the chimney had started to tilt away from the home. But with the help of Push Piers our All-Dry of the Carolinas’ team was able to give the chimney the extra strength it needed!

Foundation repair is an extremely common problem that we get called out for. However, this homeowner had a crack in their basement wall that was one of the bigger ones that we had seen in awhile. It was impressive that the crack in the wall was able to get as big as this before the homeowner gave us a call to come out and look at their basement. This crack was easily 1-2 inches wide, if not more.

The “before” photo shows what the crack in the wall looked like before any work was done on the basement. As you can see, this crack is very wide, much wider than the rest of the cracks in this basement, and many other homes that we have installed push piers on. Again, the fact the homeowner allowed the crack to get this large is incredible. However, the more impressive thing was how well the push piers brought the crack back together.

The “after” photo is almost unbelievable compared to the before. The push piers did an incredible job on bringing the wall back together. They were able to take a crack with at least a one-to-two inch gap all the way up and reduce the gap to almost nothing. After the two sides of this rift were pushed close to each other, our crew went back and resealed the crack, which will look almost just like the wall when it dries out.

This customer had a huge problem. They were in desperate need of some kind of foundation support system to fix these huge cracks in their home. Our crew installed our FSI Push Pier System in order to fix these and it really did the trick!

The “before” picture shows a huge crack in the customer’s garage. We see small cracks which can cause a problem, but we hardly see cracks that you can see through to the outside!

The “after” photo shows the same crack after we installed our Push Piers and sealed the crack. You can see just how big of a difference the push piers can make! The best things about our products are that they give each and every one of our customers peace of mind after they are installed! This goes for both preventative work and work after the problem has already arisen.

This homeowner was worried that part of their home wasn’t being supported how it should be, unfortunately, they were right about that. When our Service Design Specialist Stuart went out to his home, he saw that the home’s foundation was starting to crack under the pressure of the extended part of the home. The extra part was only held up by a few thick, wooden beams.

The “before” picture shows what the area looked like before our crew was able to get out to the home and do any work. While it is difficult to actually notice any sagging or other problems in this photo, there are a few places where the wooden posts can be seen through the lattice. While these posts may have worked for awhile, it was only a matter of time before the ground started to shift and these posts caused more problems than they solved.

The “after” photo shows the same area but with the five SmartJacks installed in order to support this part of the home. These SmartJacks were able to provide ample support to this overhanging part of the home. A large part of this job that isn’t really seen at all is what we call “supplemental beam”, which is basically an extra beam that gives the SmartJacks a connected area in order to disperse the weight evenly between all five SmartJacks.

An issue that we commonly encounter are cracks throughout a foundation. Usually these are smaller cracks, but every once and awhile we get a home that has some pretty serious foundation issues, like this home. As you can see in the before picture, the entire corner of this home was sinking, and pretty significantly. The widest crack is close to an inch wide, which may not seem like much, but for the foundation that supports your home, this is a big deal.

In order to fix this issue, our Systems Design Specialist suggested the homeowner go with a couple of push piers to help bring this corner back towards its original position. The homeowner agreed to get the push piers installed, because he knew how serious this issue could be if left unchecked. Since the settlement was only occurring in this back part of the home, this project only needed two push piers.

The second picture shows the same corner, but after the push piers were installed, and the job was completely finished. As you can see, the crack has been pushed back together and looks completely normal. The great thing about push piers are that, when installed, they are completely covered. This is the perfect example of how we like to work, we want our work to give you all of the benefits of a great system, without having to see it!

Our crew installed push piers to support the foundation of this owner’s home, located in Canon, GA.

Our crew installed a supplemental beam, and SmartJack supports to support the floor joist system. When installing SmartJacks with or without supplemental beams, the goal is to stabilize and stop further damage to the structure, not necessarily to level floors.