Foundation Repair Before & After Photos

This basement wall in Lawrenceburg, KY, was bowing inwards, as evidence by the horizontal crack running along the wall. We braced the wall with our PowerBrace system to stabilize the wall. These braces are coated in zinc to prevent rusting, as these galvanized steel beams were designed by engineers to hold extreme loads back horizontally. These braces were also designed with different top brackets, which helps us connect the tops of the braces to the floor joists in the ceiling, depending on if the joists run parallel or perpendicular to the wall. You may also notice that we aligned the wall with our vapor barrier, as we also waterproofed this basement as well.

This front porch in Frankfort, KY, had settled pretty far down into the soil, which made for an awkward entrance to the front door. Far more problematic though, the settling was causing severe damages to the roof overhang system above. The columns, which connected the porch slab to the roof overhang were sinking with the porch. To fix this, we underpinned the porch with our helical piers to not just stabilize the structure, but to raise it back up as well. The piers were driven deep below the porch vertically, and they were concealed with backfill afterwards. The piers also allowed us to lift this heavy structure, which helped level out the slab and close some gaps and cracks in the overhang above. Afterwards, the homeowner no longer has to worry about their roof toppling down due to sinking support columns.

This photo set taken from a basement shows the transformation of a bowing wall repair project in Frankfort, KY. The before photo highlights the shearing symptom, which happens in late stage of wall failure, and is super dangerous. Shearing occurs when there is so much external pressure that the wall slowly starts to slide inwards, right over the floor slab. This wall was at a very high risk for complete structural failure. After we repaired the wall with a bracing system, we were able to push the wall back to a plum position. In fact, our crew was able to push the wall back 3 inches far. This repair process was very delicate, but our crew was able to handle the pressure. If you wish to read more about this project, we have a case study that you can read by clicking here. 

This home's front side wall in Harrodsburg, KY, was moving inwards towards the basement floor. Because the backside of the home features a walkout basement, there wasn't enough opposing soil pressure on that side to suggest a traditional wall bracing system. Without the counterforce, bracing the front side wall could cause damage to the floor joists and even cause the backside of the home to kick outwards near the top of the wall. Because of this situation, we suggested repairing the wall by installing our helical tieback system and our wall anchors. We were able to drill our helical rods horizontally through the front side wall into the soil beneath the lawn in the front yard. After pulling the wall back, we then tarred the wall around the rods to seal the wall, safeguarding it from leaking. Lastly, we anchored the wall with our wall plates to help secure the rods. You may also notice that we waterproofed this basement as well by wrapping the perimeter with our WaterGuard subfloor drains, wrapping the walls with our white CleanSpace vapor barrier, and installing a sump pump (not pictured). 

This basement in Owenton, KY, was experiencing immense amount of water pressure outside the foundation. The horizontal crack along the wall in the before picture is right where the frost line is in the soil outside the basement. A wall may bow and crack horizontally near the frost line due to frost heave — a natural but damaging process that happens when moisture in the soil freezes and expands.  We relieved the pressure by first waterproofing with our subfloor drains and our sump pump. We then stabilized the walls by installing our steel PowerBrace I-beams. We also added a CleanSpace vapor barrier behind the beams to help drain wall leaks down into the subfloor system. The homeowner was happy to know that they no longer have to worry about their leaky bowing walls.