Home Foundation Concerns

[Marshal Jim Duncan]

I have some concerns about foundation problems at our house. What is the first step I should take?

Should I hire a structural inspector to come take a look first - and then get bids from various firms if the inspector says I need it? Or can I just skip that step and go right to gettig bids from various firms?

 

[Cordellhall83]

I would go ahead and call a foundation repair company. We used Power Lift out of Ada, Ok. Ram Jack is also out of Ada as well. We had 4 piers on a porch...which costs more (they cut and repair the porch cement) and 3 that were dug under. They use steel tubing to jack up the foundation...the tubing is mfg. in Oklahoma by the way. They'll come in your house with a gizmo and compare the height of different locations. If you have settling, it'll let you know how much. We had a door that we could not open...opens now. They went down about 17 feet before hitting rock to lift. I think the charge is more if they go beyond 25 feet. It was a 1 1/2 day job. If I remember right the warranty is 5 years. We liked Power Lift and would use them again...hopefully we'll never meet. Wasn't a fan of Olshan...just didn't like their lifting system. It's been about 3 years but I think the normal pier was $500 each and $750 for concrete...could be wrong but it's in the ball park. Hope some of this helps.

 

[Marshal Jim Duncan]

I would go ahead and call a foundation repair company. We used Power Lift out of Ada, Ok. Ram Jack is also out of Ada as well. We had 4 piers on a porch...which costs more (they cut and repair the porch cement) and 3 that were dug under. They use steel tubing to jack up the foundation...the tubing is mfg. in Oklahoma by the way. They'll come in your house with a gizmo and compare the height of different locations. If you have settling, it'll let you know how much. We had a door that we could not open...opens now. They went down about 17 feet before hitting rock to lift. I think the charge is more if they go beyond 25 feet. It was a 1 1/2 day job. If I remember right the warranty is 5 years. We liked Power Lift and would use them again...hopefully we'll never meet. Wasn't a fan of Olshan...just didn't like their lifting system. It's been about 3 years but I think the normal pier was $500 each and $750 for concrete...could be wrong but it's in the ball park. Hope some of this helps.

Anybody else have any different advice?

Or does anyone else have a company they'd recommend?

 

[Air_Thurman]

My house is almost 100 years old, two-stories with foundation issues. You could do what I do and just drink heavily praying nothing goes wrong.

We had a structural inspector come out when we bought the house. I don't remember what it costs but it wasn't very cheap. However, he is report was pretty thorough and detailed. At some point we are going to have to work done so I'm also interested in companies to use.

The house we sold need some work and we used a company called Home Savers. They were by far the cheapest and great to work with. However, I was not concerned with the quality of work since we were leaving the house. Can't vouch for them on that end (good or bad).

 

[NeekReevers]

We had some settling in our home that was about 30 years old. We got quotes from Powerlift and Ram Jack and also went with Powerlift. I would use them again. I felt the technician from Powerlift was very honest with us in that he said it was borderline as to whether we actually had enough settling to justify going ahead and doing it. He told us that once a home starts to settle though it normally will continue to do so so we went ahead and did it.

 

[long-duc-dong]

I would go ahead and call a foundation repair company. We used Power Lift out of Ada, Ok. Ram Jack is also out of Ada as well. We had 4 piers on a porch...which costs more (they cut and repair the porch cement) and 3 that were dug under. They use steel tubing to jack up the foundation...the tubing is mfg. in Oklahoma by the way. They'll come in your house with a gizmo and compare the height of different locations. If you have settling, it'll let you know how much. We had a door that we could not open...opens now. They went down about 17 feet before hitting rock to lift. I think the charge is more if they go beyond 25 feet. It was a 1 1/2 day job. If I remember right the warranty is 5 years. We liked Power Lift and would use them again...hopefully we'll never meet. Wasn't a fan of Olshan...just didn't like their lifting system. It's been about 3 years but I think the normal pier was $500 each and $750 for concrete...could be wrong but it's in the ball park. Hope some of this helps.

You need to check that warranty. Most offer a lifetime transferable warranty. Just an fyi.

 

[NeekReevers]

You need to check that warranty. Most offer a lifetime transferable warranty. Just an fyi.

That's what I remember with Powerlift as well. I think they charge like $50 to transfer it if you sell the house.

 

[JonnyVito]

We had some settling in our home that was about 30 years old. We got quotes from Powerlift and Ram Jack and also went with Powerlift. I would use them again. I felt the technician from Powerlift was very honest with us in that he said it was borderline as to whether we actually had enough settling to justify going ahead and doing it. He told us that once a home starts to settle though it normally will continue to do so so we went ahead and did it.

@CrazyChuckCarbo

Saw your post and remember this thread. Hope this might help.

 

[CrazyChuckCarbo]

Thanks JV.

 

[latimdj]

If you are in Tulsa, I recommend Edens Structural.....20 year transferable warranty......