Photo Album: Stabilizing a Vincennes, IN Foundation

These Vincennes, IN homeowners, reached out to Healthy Spaces when they noticed their foundation crack in their basement spreading across the whole wall. They knew the walls had been cracked and bowing but had little idea of its total movement. They could now see the wall bowing in, and were nervous that their makeshift solution wouldn't do the job anymore. They quickly became very concerned and knew that they needed professional help. Design Specialist, Damon Cheatham, met with the family and came up with a solution to ease their minds. They decided that the best thing for their foundation would be to install a Geo-Lock System and PowerBraces. These two things would help to stabilize their foundation and make their home safe.

Foundation Settlement

No amount of foundation settlement is good, or normal for that matter. Wall cracks as you see in this photo is one of the most common signs of settlement. Your home is resting upon many layers of soil, each with different thickness and abilities to hold the weight of your home. When it rains and the soil settles, you begin to see foundation cracks.

Horizontal Cracking

Horizontal cracking near the middle of the wall is one of the first symptoms you will notice in the case of a bowing wall. They usually start out small and increase in width over time as the soil outside continues to put pressure on the wall.

Causes of Wall Failure

The soil around your home puts a lot of pressure on your foundation walls. The amount of pressure varies depending on the type of soil around the home, the amount of moisture in the soil, and how deep the foundation is under the ground. Water flows into this area more easily, exerting inward pressure on your foundation, even more so when the water freezes or clay soil expands. Under stress, the walls will begin to crack, bow, or lean in.

A Solution

Here, Geo-Lock anchors are being installed. These anchors are drilled through the wall resulting in more holding power in weak soils. These heavy-duty steel earth anchors are embedded in stable soil away from your foundation wall and then connected to steel wall plates with galvanized steel rods.

The Achors

In these holes, a few feet apart is where the wall anchor system will go. The anchors work to prevent further wall bowing from soil pressure. By anchoring them in stable soil, we can also tighten the cable over time, hopefully straightening the walls. These cause a minimal disturbance to your home, lawn, and landscaping.

From the Inside

This is what the wall anchor system looks like from the inside of your basement. They are held securely in the wall and the system can be tightened during dry seasons to further straighten walls over time.

The PowerBrace System

This system permanently stabilizes foundation walls with their custom-fit steel beams. They are tightly secured against the wall with brackets that are anchored to the basement floor and the framing above. This design can also be tightened over time, eliminating any further inward movement.

The Final Result

Now that everything has been installed, you can't tell that there were ever foundation issues at this house besides the little bit of dirt there is to show for it. They also have the peace of mind knowing that their foundation is safe and stable.