Foundation Repair in Atlanta, GA Built for Red Clay and Century-Old Homes

A concrete-block basement or crawl space wall that has a horizontal crack along a mortar joint, usually one-third to halfway down, or that leans inward. It means soil pressure outside is greater than the wall can resist.

A lot of 1950s–60s ranches and split-levels were built into hillsides with hollow, unreinforced CMU walls. After a long winter rain or a cloudburst, red clay holds water against those walls and hydrostatic pressure climbs fast. Original terracotta drain tile has often collapsed or clogged with clay, so the water has nowhere to go. Over decades of wet/dry cycling, the walls ratchet inward a little more each season.

• Horizontal crack running the length of a block wall
• Wall leaning inward at the top or bulging in the middle
• Stair-step cracks at wall corners
• Efflorescence or water seeping through mortar joints
• Gaps between the sill plate and the top of the wall
• Damp basement after heavy rain

We see this most on the uphill walls of daylight basements in Brookhaven's Ashford Park, Chamblee, Smyrna, Belvedere Park and Candler-McAfee, especially where neighboring infill or a newer driveway now sends runoff toward the house.

Our fix: Stabilize with carbon fiber straps, wall anchors or steel I-beam braces, depending on how far the wall has moved, then relieve the pressure with drainage and downspout corrections.

In older crawl-space homes, freestanding brick piers hold up wood girders. When mortar crumbles, piers lean or settle, or girders sag or rot, the floor above dips, bounces and slopes.

Victorian and Craftsman homes in Atlanta were built with soft lime mortar that washes out over a century in humid crawl spaces. Many piers sit on shallow brick footings resting on clay that softens every wet season. Girders were often undersized to begin with. Then high humidity, wood rot and Georgia's heavy subterranean termite pressure go to work on sill plates and beams. Past owners frequently added shims, stacked blocks or random jack posts.

• Floors that slope toward the middle of the house
• Bouncy or springy spots underfoot
• Interior doors that stick or swing open on their own
• Cracks in plaster above door frames
• Leaning or crumbling piers visible in the crawl space
• Gaps between baseboards and floors

This is the most common complaint in Inman Park, Grant Park, Cabbagetown, West End, Kirkwood, Candler Park, Virginia-Highland and Oakhurst, and in Hapeville and East Point mill cottages where pier layouts have been changed several times.

Our fix: Rebuild or replace failed piers on proper footings, sister or replace damaged girders, add adjustable steel supports, and gradually re-level floors to avoid cracking plaster.

A slab-on-grade garage, sunroom or addition that drops away from the original house, leaving a separation crack at the joint and sloping floors in the addition.

Additions and garages usually rest on shallower footings than the main house, and they're often poured on poorly compacted fill. Atlanta's cut-and-fill lots, old ravines and organic-laden fill keep consolidating for decades. When red clay saturates under those slabs, it loses bearing strength, and the downhill corner usually goes first.

• Separation crack where the addition meets the house
• Diagonal cracks in brick veneer at the corners
• Garage slab sloping toward the door or a corner
• Gaps at the garage door bottom seal
• Windows in the addition that bind
• Exterior trim pulling apart

Common on 1970s–1990s homes in Smyrna and Vinings, on teardown-era additions intown, and on south-side homes in College Park and Forest Park where garages were added later on uncompacted fill.

Our fix: Underpin with push piers or helical piers driven to load-bearing strata or bedrock, then lift and level the slab and reseal the joint where the addition meets the house.

One part of the foundation sinks faster than the rest, which twists the structure and causes uneven cracking. It's often driven by root moisture extraction or consolidating fill.

Atlanta is the City in a Forest. Mature water oaks, willow oaks and tulip poplars often stand within 15–20 feet of foundations, and in summer their roots pull a lot of moisture out of the clay. In droughts, the clay under the tree side shrinks while the rest stays stable. Many post-1950s lots also sit on fill that never got properly compacted.

• Stair-step cracks in brick veneer on one side
• Cracks wider at the top than the bottom
• Chimney pulling away from the house
• Sloping floors on the tree side
• Cracks that open in late summer and close in winter
• Cracked interior drywall at corners

Shows up most in heavily wooded Druid Hills, Lake Claire, Peachtree Heights and Avondale Estates, where protected trees and tree ordinances limit how close crews can excavate for exterior piers.

Our fix: Monitor the cracks to confirm the movement is active, then underpin the affected section, work around root zones, and manage soil moisture with drainage rather than removing the tree.

A crawl space with standing water, high humidity, wet insulation or visible mold. Over time it softens floor joists, sill plates and subfloors and invites termites.

Atlanta summer dew points often top 70°F. Vented crawl spaces pull that humid air in, and it condenses on cooler framing. Clay sheds rainwater toward the house, and on sloped lots it pools under the floor system. Old homes rarely have a vapor barrier, or have one that's torn.

• Musty smell in the house, especially in summer
• Standing water or wet soil under the house
• Sagging or falling insulation
• Soft, darkened joists or sill plates
• Visible mold on framing
• Termite mud tubes on piers

Very common in Craftsman bungalows in Kirkwood, Ormewood Park and East Lake, and in pier-built cottages around Historic Downtown College Park and Hapeville, where low crawl spaces make access tight.

Our fix: Fix the drainage first, then install a vapor barrier, replace or sister rotted framing, and add supplemental supports where joists have sagged.

Thin vertical or random cracks under about 1/8 inch in poured walls, basement floors, driveways and patios, usually from concrete curing or minor seasonal movement.

Nearly all concrete cracks. In Atlanta, wet/dry clay cycling flexes slabs a little each season, and summer heat adds thermal movement. Most of these cracks aren't structural, but they can let water and soil gases in.

• Vertical hairline crack in a poured wall
• Thin random cracks in a basement or garage floor
• Minor seepage through a crack after rain
• No offset between the two sides of the crack
• Crack width stays the same over months

Typical in poured-wall basements in 1980s–2000s homes in Smyrna, Vinings and Brookhaven, and in driveways on steep intown lots.

Our fix: Inject the crack with epoxy or polyurethane, seal the surface, and recheck it in a few months to confirm it's dormant.

Sudden settlement, cracking or wall displacement after a flood, a broken water line or erosion that washes soil out from under footings.

Atlanta's flood history, including the September 2009 event, shows how fast creeks and basements can flood. Red clay erodes badly on slopes, and a broken supply line or a failing retaining wall can undermine a footing within days.

• New cracks wider than 1/4 inch appearing quickly
• Doors that suddenly won't close
• Visible voids or washout under a slab edge
• Retaining wall leaning or collapsing
• Water flowing under the slab
• Floors dropping noticeably in days

Most likely on steep lots near creeks and stream buffers in DeKalb and intown Atlanta, and below failing retaining walls on hillside lots.

Our fix: Shut off water sources, shore up temporarily, evaluate quickly, then permanently underpin, backfill voids and fix the water source.