What to Expect from Foundation Repairs: Before, During and After

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A new solid foundation is necessary, but what should you expect from foundation repairs? The lowdown on before, during and after.

Fixing foundation problems are an evil necessity. After a drought or rainy season your slab or pier and beam foundation may crack, shift or lift, leaving you with foundation problems in need of repair. Unlike many other home repairs, foundation repair has many repercussions. This post will cover the consequences–both obvious and subtle–so you know EXACTLY what to expect before, during and after foundation repairs to your home. Many of these tips apply to both pier and beam foundations as well as slab on grade foundations.

What to expect BEFORE foundation repairs begin.

Tip #1 Complete all foundation repairs before any other renovation.

Any shifts in the foundation may ruin anything above it. Completing a renovation or a work in progress while finishing repairs is an alternate version of Russian roulette.

For instance, we completed the foundation work before putting a new roof on the house. By leveling first there is no additional stress on the top layer of the house causing stretching or buckling of the new roofing materials.

Tip #2 If your foundation problems are a result of something else, get that solved first.

Don’t throw money at a problem without solving the cause. Otherwise you’ll just pay for foundation repairs again later.

Do you need gutters? Improved drainage around the house? Is there improper slope leading all water towards the house foundation? Are sprinkler heads too close to your house and need to be redirected or moved further away? Do trees need to be removed?

These sprinklers are too close to the house causing foundation problems. I’ve highlighted the spray patterns. Mortar is permeable, allowing the water behind the stone veneer. Continuously wet from sprinklers throughout the day, the cardboard “waterproofing” behind this veneer will eventually soak into the wood frame of the walls.

Personal experience: we had two houses requiring foundation repairs. On the first house we removed a failing handicap ramp which was holding moisture against the house. The second needed gutters to help direct water away from the foundation.

Tip #3 Landscape may be damaged.

Foundation repair contractors need access to the crawlspace when it comes to pier and beam foundations. They’ll also need access to the perimeter.

You’ll need to remove anything around your crawlspace access before foundation repairs begin.

Slab foundations need additional piers. These piers require digging around the outside of the foundation for access to put them in place.

Even a pier and beam foundation may need some trenching during the repair process.

A 5 foot hole was dug to pour a new footing below the previous foundation…of only a few inches below and surrounding the brick stemwall.

There is no getting around there will be damage to grass and plants. Temporary replanting is your best bet. Make sure you consider plants all around the perimeter of your house because the contractor may need access anywhere and possibly everywhere.

Stacks of lumber and cement columns are staged for the foundation repairs. Heavy loads may cause lawn damage.

Likewise, piles of rotten floor joists and beams and piles of dirt from trenching below the house can also cause lawn issues.

Likewise, any outdoor furniture, toys and equipment should be moved out of the way.

Tip #4 Obvious, but for completeness: the house WILL move.

The motion of the repair may shift items around. Protect valuables, wall hangings and delicate items by placing them in safe places during the foundation repairs.

Tip #5 Don’t wait.

Foundation problems get worse over time. Meaning the final bill will only get more expensive later as the foundation continues to deteriorate.

At the same time, foundation repair may or may not be expensive. You don’t really know until you ask. Definitely get bids before thinking it is more than you can afford.

What to expect DURING foundation repairs.

Tip #6 It will be noisy.

20 ton jacks crank the house up, sistered joists are hammered into place and heavy equipment and power tools may be used. Tapping, hammering, sawing, motor noise and possible cursing is the norm.

My husband pounding away, sistering a floor joist during our first round of repairs when we first bought the house. Foundation repair is noisy!

In our case the hardwood flooring nails extend well into the crawlspace. If you forget and your head gets anywhere near the subfloor you are not so gently reminded with the pointed end of a nail.

Foundation repairs are loud. Especially when you hit your head on any one of these nails extending into the crawlspace.

Consider finding a hideout away from home for your pets.

The same applies to kids. Children who need naps will not be getting a nap at the house on the day of foundation repairs. Small ears may overhear some language especially given the nail situation photographed above.

Tip #7 Expect repairs inside the house.

Cracks and buckling started forming as the house settled. This isn’t just limited to drywall but to all systems of the house: the roof, framing, plumbing, flooring, etc. As nice as it would seem to simply put it back and the cracks disappear, that isn’t quite how it ends up working. Instead, expect more cracks and buckling to appear as the house is jacked up and releveled.

Drywall

Drywall is the most obvious repair. Paper and gypsum easily crack. Expect drywall repairs inside of the house during and after the foundation work.

Expect ceiling and doorway drywall cracks from foundation repairs.

Doorway drywall cracks caused by foundation fixes.

In our experience with one house, almost every window had anywhere from one to four cracks going from the window to the ceiling or floor.

Doors

Doors may need some tweaking to bring them back to level and close properly.

Gap between the doorway, wall and floor.

Windows

Windows may be more difficult to open and close if they were replaced while the house was out of level.

Trimwork

Similar to drywall, crown moulding and baseboard can pop off or show gaps as the repairs are completed.

Crown molding coming off during foundation work. Notice the drywall crack above the doorway too…

Plumbing

Plumbing systems with little give may break or separate. Plumbing is supposed to run below the slab inside a sheathing, allowing the shifting and moving expected in a slab to leave the plumbing unaffected. The sheathing also serves as a protective measure against water and other minerals in the soil from eating at the outside of a pipe.

These measures may not be enough. As part of a house sinks, it pushes the plumbing further into the ground. When the house is lifted, the embedded plumbing wants to stay where it is. This kind of suction/pulling action can easily break a line.

In this house the plumbing install was so bad it popped up above the slab in the middle of the room! It also did not have the protective sheathing copper pipe should have when it runs through concrete.

You can’t be sure of what you have since you can’t see it. If you are particularly unlucky, hard line plumbing, such as copper photographed above, will be embedded improperly in the slab. This means plumbing is more likely to separate during the initial shift, causing an undetectable leak below the flooring. Or it can cause a crimp in the line where a leak occurs during or after the foundation repair.

While all homes are not created equal, even if your home is plumbed properly below the slab, you may just have bad luck and the plumbing separates.

It’s better to know as soon as possible before tiles start popping off due to a waterlogged concrete slab foundation. You may want to test for leaks before and after foundation repairs to ensure your water supply works properly and did not suffer any damage. A plumber could assist you with this kind of testing or this would be an extra benefit of getting a whole house water monitoring system so you can do it yourself.

Screenshot of the Flo by Moen app when a small drip is detected.

Screenshot of the Flo by Moen app where you can see the current flow rate along with the current total of the day.

Related article: Protect Your Home From Plumbing Leaks: Flo and Phyn

As for the water exiting your home that is another matter entirely. While it can be a major issue, it is not as if there is a constant stream of water attempting to shoot out the line as is the case on the supply plumbing side. You may want to have your egress plumbing scoped.

Flooring

Harder surfaces with little to no give, such as tile, may crack. Grout may need to be redone. In a worst case scenario, an entire floor may need replacing. Many caulk joints where two surfaces meet will need the old caulking removed and replaced.

The bathtub separated from the tile floor…or the tile floor separated from the bathtub. Your call, but in either case the crack in between needed new caulk as well as the adjoining tile surround.

On a personal note, adjusting doors, drywall cracks, reattaching baseboard and crown moulding were all present during our two experiences. In addition, most of the entire bathroom needed recaulking between the bathtub floor connection, along the bottom of the travertine surround, the doorway jamb and threshold, and along the back of the countertop. The counters and tile backsplash in the kitchen also needed a new caulk job.

Tip #8 Expect work outside of the house.

Roofing

Trusses or other supporting framing may twist and shift. Bowed and cracked bracing may need to be replaced.

Foundation repairs can find framing and roofing problems. Foundation repairs are how we discovered the last A/C company had compromised the structure of the roof/house by cutting through and removing some of the trusses. If you see cracks in your ceiling with buckling look at the framing above…not just what is there, but what should be there.

Masonry

Brickwork and stone on the exterior may need repointing. If the cracks are big enough some replacing may be in order.

This is the before, where you can see the cracks in this brick stemwall signalling where the corner of the house is falling away from the rest of the house.

Jacking up the corner of the house back to level. A new column was placed over a cement footing (covered with dirt in the photo) and shimmed to level.

The cracks in the brick foundation stemwall disappeared after the corner was lifted.

Siding

If sill plate or rim joists are replaced, siding is coming off. If you have vinyl siding, it may be possible to remove it and then snapped back into place. Our vinyl siding was higher quality with insulation backing. It was also fairly new so it had some give. If your vinyl siding is older it may crack and need replacing. This would just be a patch. However, you may have complications:

• Perhaps your siding is not easily available.
• There could be noticeable fading from the sun with a newer piece being much darker and the rest of the house is lighter.
• Or maybe the vinyl siding had a different color batch.

The siding is removed to replace the sill plate and rim joist.

Reinstalling the vinyl siding after foundation repairs are complete.

If you have wood siding it may be able to be reattached with some painting. If the rot is so bad it extends into the siding you may have to replace a few rows.

In-progress photo of replacing wood siding after foundation repairs were complete.

Siding is generally outside of the contract unless explicitly stated. In our experience, one team offered to replace the siding for a fee. The other worked with us to replace the siding as we had pitched in during the rest of the process.

Also remember to replace any removed waterproofing under the siding that was removed. The old waterproofing should overlap over the new waterproofing:

Expect to replace waterproofing on any siding removed during foundation repairs.

Outside faucets

Of all places, why is it the siding seems to get taken off around a hose bibb?

Perhaps because it is the cause of some framing damage due to water leaking? More than likely… Not just to annoy us with replacing more complicated pieces of siding.

So many foundation repairs end up around a hose bibb.

In any case, there might be some repairs to the siding around the hose bibb. If that is the case you might also be calling a plumber if a leak is active causing prolonged damage to the foundation below.

While we did not have any active leaks, there were leaks in the past either at the hose bibb or in the kitchen sink just behind the hose bibb, which was the major source of foundation damage in one house. In the second house, the repair was not a result of water plumbed in, but the result of splashback from rain. The siding around the hose bibb was still removed. In both cases we took the opportunity to change out the old gate valves and installed new quarter turn valves. Nowadays we would replace these with frost free hose bibbs. We would also install a PEX maintenance loop to make maintenance or the next replacement easier.

Gutters

Downspouts may get bumped or fall off with the movement. Make an extra pass around the outside of the house to make sure your gutters, downspouts, and trays are all in their proper place.

After foundation work check gutters, reattaching if necessary.

Tip #9 Concrete areas such as driveways and garages may need breakouts.

Breakouts are holes needed to access the foundation in concrete around and inside the house. Driveways and garages are two common examples where slab foundation repairs need access to these large areas. After the work is complete they will be patched, but know that while necessary, it may look patched going forward.

Tip #10 Expect to find extra problems and budget for project creep.

Better to do it now than have a repeat visit when further damage is done to the interior of the house.

Both of our foundations ended up costing more due to unexpected dry rot.

Tip #11 Enjoy the ride.

Many foundation repairs are more expensive than a trip to Disney World. If you are inside when the house is lifted and lowered you might as well enjoy your personal roller coaster ride. At least your floors won’t feel like a roller coaster when the job is complete.

Tip #12 Take a morale boost when you can get it.

This might be an unfun, stressful and expensive day (or multiple days). ANY morale boost is a good thing.

Smiles all around with all hands on deck.

Our pint-size helper stuck around to find nails we needed to remove… keeping smiles on the foundation company crew.

What to expect AFTER foundation repairs are complete.

Tip #13 Check the boots on all roof penetrations.

Boots on vent stacks shift and move with repairs. If they are lifted up, they won’t automatically go down by themselves. If they are left up there will be a gap allowing rain to travel down the pipe, causing secondary damage with insulation and drywall repairs. Likewise, any cracks that form in tar or caulk should get replaced or recoated to seal the gap.

I wouldn’t expect the foundation company to go on your roof as their main job is on the ground. Instead, you’ll need to go up and push them back into position.

Tip #14 Wait for settling.

Instead of fixing the drywall right away, you should consider letting the house settle a few weeks or months. It may take some time to see if cracks become smaller or larger. You’d hate to make repairs only to have them reappear again.

Then it is on to taping, floating, sanding, priming, and painting. Ugh.

Tip #14 Keep tabs on the backfill.

If you have a slab foundation repair, digging is required to put in additional piers. The removed dirt is backfilled (if not, this is a serious problem!). The dirt will settle over time. If there is not enough, this allows water to pool along the foundation, creating another opportunity for foundation problems.

On the other hand, if there is too much backfill and it is piled up too high all the way up to your siding you have another problem. If you have a brick or stone veneer, there are weep holes along the bottom to allow water behind the stone to exit. If you have some kind of wood or other exterior cladding backfill along the bottom can store water and cause the siding to fail prematurely along with the baseplate and framing along the bottom of the wall.

Tip #15 Selling soon? While foundation repairs may be necessary, the above consequences may make your home harder to sell.

It’s a catch 22. Foundation damage discovered on a home inspection is bad news. If you follow through on foundation repairs or if you complete a repair prior to going on the market you are potentially looking at a lot of work fixing the repercussions.

If too many repairs are obvious the potential buyer is going to wonder what is wrong. But you’ve already had the foundation repaired! In all reality the expensive work is done. A potential buyer may not appreciate your problem solving and keep looking at other homes.

Many obvious consequences are minimal in comparison, but if they are not fixed properly you end up holding the bag in the end because no one wants to buy a damaged home or they will want a significant price reduction.

This certainly has turned into a doom and gloom post, but in all reality, foundation repairs are a high risk and high effort job. When it is necessary, it needs to be done.

The intent of this post was not to scare you, but to educate you on possible complications. It’s better to know the repercussions ahead of time with a worst case scenario rather than getting surprised with the aftermath.

Definitely bring any questions and concerns up to the contractors you are interviewing during the bidding process.

Have any additional tips from your own experience to share for what to expect from foundation repair? The comments are open!

Related posts:

Choosing the Right Pier and Beam Foundation Repair Contractor

Two Methods for Pier and Beam Foundation Repairs

How to Install a Hose Bibb with a PEX Maintenance Loop

Protect Your Home From Plumbing Leaks: Flo and Phyn

Prevent Water Damage 24/7: A Flo by Moen Review

Flo by Moen Quirks: A Running Review

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