Two Methods for Pier and Beam Foundation Repairs

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After pier and beam foundation repairs, this foundation now floats separate from the stem wall.

As with many home repairs, there is more than one way to solve a problem. Pier and beam foundation repairs are no exception. This post will describe two methods to repair a pier and beam foundation.

The backstory:

Unlike the tale of two roofs, this is actually a post about the differences between the repairs to the foundations of two REAL houses. My husband and I have two rental properties across the street from each other:

House #1: Leaks in the kitchen in the past as well as outside water draining off a treacherous handicap ramp caused moisture buildup, rotting the stem wall and beams.

One of the crushed center beams where the handicap ramp was directly on the other side.

Wider view of the water damaged side of the pier and beam foundation. The beam above is the right center beam.

House #2: Built on a small sloped hill, when it rains it’s enough of a slope to cause a problem with drainage, and, subsequently, the foundation.

During the estimating / bid process (link) there was only one comment that threw a red flag up for me. Nick mentioned the stem wall (the exterior brick) was not load bearing. All I could think of is all the work we did on the stem wall on my house initially. I’m not a professional, but it sure would have been easier to replace the rotten portion of it wasn’t load bearing. Jack that puppy up, slide the new pieces into place, wipe your hands off and walk away whistling a tune. Except there was prayer involved, some external cursing, and motivation from the remains of a hurricane bearing down on us.

Why?

Because it WAS load bearing.

I mentally agreed to disagree.

An in-progress view of the pier and beam foundation repairs when the first couple rows of siding and some of the sheathing was removed for to access and replace the sill plate and rim joist. The sill plate, rim joist and sheathing to the left are the pieces my dad, my brother, and my husband replaced with me on that dark night as the storm hit. So it was kind of surreal to see the rest of the sill plate and rim joists replaced on entire side of the house next to our handiwork. Although this job was done two years ago (while our original job was done ten years ago), I still remember sending my dad a text with this photo the moment I saw this.

Considering the wet winter and drought from the summer caused my back stem wall to lean, I was concerned about Nick’s methodology with regard to removing the load bearing aspect. However, as I mentioned above, we grilled these guys. Both were upfront and answered all our questions and we felt confident in their abilities.

Somehow I got into my working-on-a-house-so-think-outside-the-box mode and suggested we hire them both. Ken, for my house and Nick for my husband’s. We scheduled them for different days so that there would be no overlap and we could get involved.

Peir and beam foundation repair method #1:

Nick and company showed up on day 1 with a truckload of 20 ton jacks, concrete columns, 4”x6” beams, and 2”x6” lumber for sistering floor joists and replacing the stem wall, replacing sill plates and end joists as needed.

In-progress photo of the pier and beam repairs along the stem wall.

Nick’s comment, “the stem wall was not load bearing” quickly started making sense. The crew jacked up some temporary beams while they installed permanent floating beams under the newly sistered joists JUST INSIDE the stem wall. The stem wall was no longer load bearing *after* their foundation leveling.

The new beam replacing the crushed center beam. You can still spy the old beam to the left of the new beam. You can see the foundation now floats because the beam does not go above the stem wall and, instead, butts up against it.

A wider angle of the stem wall that is no longer load bearing.

New versus old beam. Also, new versus old piers.

Did you notice the gap above the old beam in the photo before this one? If not, you see it now! Pencils and balls definitely rolled to this side of the room…and don’t anymore.

There is now a new additional beam along the front of the house, completing the floating portion of the pier and beam foundation.

Sure, my husband and I still very much swung a sledgehammer setting the sills back into place, but the majority of heavy lifting is now on the replaced and additional beams and columns further underneath the house. The additional columns spread the load across more of the foundation, preventing the same problem areas from reappearing.

Hammering in the new rim joist into place…at night. You’re smiling and nodding in solidarity if you’ve been here…

Peir and beam foundation repair method #2:

Next, Ken, owner of Precision Foundation, started on the second house the next day while the roofing started on the first house (it was an expensive–physically, emotionally, and monetarily–week!). Unfortunately, the team quickly realized many of the beams had dry rot as they attempted to jack them up with 20 ton bottle jacks. The ram on the jack started collapsing into the wood and the beams started cracking right over their heads!

In-progress center beam replacement.

The Precision Foundation crew worked to replace the foundation with the same design as the original house. They took out the old beams and sill plates and replace them so that the foundation stem wall was still load-bearing as opposed to floating. They worked four days replacing twice the additional beams as expected.

With a new sill plate and rim joist, sistered floor joists and additional piers supporting the new beams, the stem wall is still load bearing.

An interior view of the sistered joists and new piers.

They still added additional cement columns in between the old brick columns. The distance between the old columns was too far and allowed the floor to sag in between. Now the floor is solid and flat.

Additional center beams and piers are installed below the middle of the house.

The work also expanded into a major exterior foundation corner repair. They dug halfway to China pouring a cement footer approximately 2 feet wide both directions and to a depth about 5 ft deep. They allowed the cement footer to set up over the weekend. The following Monday they put in a column on top of the cement footer and hammered spacers between the column and the original dinky cement foundation below the brick.

Hole for Cement Footer Beneath the Corner of the House

The differences between these two pier and beam foundation repairs:

It is very interesting to note the differences in styles and where they are best suited. Nick’s methodology of a floating foundation is quicker and easier to install. This worked great on the flat ground of my husband’s house. However, with the leaning stem wall on my house and the slope of the hill, Ken’s reuse of the stem wall and adding columns along the newly replaced beams seem like the better option in that scenario. By keeping the stem wall load bearing it seems less likely to get significantly worse with the next ground heave.

Whatever method you do choose, make sure you address whatever caused the problem first. There is no use in fixing the foundation only to have to repeat the process again because the cause is still there. In our case we ripped out the misplaced handicap ramp on the first house and installed gutters on the second house.

If you are in the East Texas, I wouldn’t think twice about hiring Precision Foundation or Remedy Foundation Repair. Both Ken and Nick are great guys who can get your foundation straightened out.

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