A Sideways Crack in a Poured Wall
Look for a crack running sideways across a poured concrete basement wall.
That usually means the soil outside is pushing the wall inward.
Foundation Repair in Gardner, Kansas
Plenty of foundation cracks are harmless, and some are the first sign of a wall or footing that is moving. We help homeowners within about 45 miles of Gardner tell the difference, and we repair the ones that are structural.
Where every repair starts
Finding What Is Actually Moving Your Foundation
A crack is usually the first thing a homeowner notices, and it is almost never the whole story. The crack is where the house gave. The real question is what pushed or pulled hard enough to make it give.
Around here, the answer is usually clay. The soil under Johnson County homes swells when it gets wet and shrinks when it dries, and that movement works on a foundation in two ways.
Clay that dries out and shrinks under a footing can let that part of the house settle. Clay that soaks up water and swells beside a basement wall can push the wall inward. Either one can crack the foundation and let water in.
Each takes a different repair, which is why we look at your foundation inside and out, not just at the wall with the crack in it.
Warning signs
What Each Warning Sign Usually Means
The sign you noticed first is usually not the whole problem. A door that sticks upstairs and a crack in the basement below it are often the same settled corner showing up in two places.
Photo coming soon
A Crack Wider Near the Ceiling Than the Floor
Find a crack that runs up and down a basement wall. Check whether it is wide up near the ceiling and narrows to a hairline down by the floor.
That shape usually means the footing under that part of the wall has settled.
Basement Walls Bowing Inward
Stand at one end of a basement wall and look down its length. A bowing wall bellies in toward the middle instead of running straight.
Most bowing walls also have a long horizontal crack partway up, where pressure from the soil outside has cracked the wall.
Water Coming Through a Crack
After a heavy rain, look for a crack that darkens or weeps.
That crack is letting water through the wall, which can happen whether or not the wall itself has moved.
Floors That Slope Toward One Corner
Set a marble down and watch where it goes. If it rolls toward one corner of the room, the footing under that corner has usually settled.
The floor is following the footing down.
Photo coming soon
A Gap Opening Under the Baseboard
Look along the bottom of the baseboards on the low side of a room. A gap opening up between the floor and the baseboard shows the floor has dropped away from the wall.
It usually shows up on the same side of the house as other signs of settling.
Doors and Windows That Stick
Notice whether the same door sticks every spring and swings free again by fall.
That frame is moving along with a foundation that shifts with the seasons. A sticking door alone is rarely urgent, but it usually points to the corner of the house where the foundation is moving most.
Photo coming soon
Drywall Cracks Above Doors and Windows
Look at the corners of your doorways and windows for cracks running up toward the ceiling.
They show where the structure below has shifted.
Gaps and Cracks in Exterior Brick
Outside, look for gaps opening between the brick and the window frames, or a crack that steps up through the mortar.
That is the same foundation movement showing up on the outside of the house.
Seeing Cracks, Bowing Walls or Sloping Floors in Your House?
Call us as soon as you notice a sign, even a small one. When you do, tell us every other sign you have seen, upstairs and down: a sticking door, a crack, a floor that slopes.
Two signs in the same corner of the house usually point to the same problem.
How we fix it
The Foundation Repairs We Do
The repair depends on what is moving and where. A crack that leaks but is not a structural problem can be sealed from inside, while a crack caused by a bowing wall or a settled footing will open again unless the movement behind it is stopped first.
01
Bowing Wall Repair
Wet soil pressing on the outside of a basement wall slowly pushes it inward, usually along a horizontal crack.
We straighten the wall by pushing it back out, then install restraints to hold it there.
Restraints are steel braces bolted to the wall and fastened to parts of the house that do not move, like the basement floor and the framing above. The soil can keep pushing, but the braces carry that pressure so the wall cannot move any further in.
02
Foundation Piering
When one corner or side of the house settles, the soil under that footing is no longer holding it up evenly.
Piers are steel posts driven down through the soil all the way to bedrock, then attached to the footing so the house rests on them instead of the soil. That stops the settling.
Once the house is on piers, we can often lift the settled side back up, which levels out sloping floors and can close up cracks. How close to level it gets depends on the house, and we tell you what to expect before any work starts.
03
Foundation Crack Repair
Plenty of cracks are not structural at all, and they only need sealing so water stops coming through.
We inject those cracks from the inside. If a crack comes from a wall or footing that is still moving, we fix the movement first, because a seal will not hold on a wall that keeps shifting.
04
Cinder Block Wall Replacement
Sometimes a block wall has been pushed in so far, or cracked through so many mortar joints, that pushing it back and bracing it would not hold.
Then we take the damaged section down, rebuild it with new block, and waterproof the outside of the wall before the soil goes back against it.
05
Steel Main Beam Replacement
The main beam running down the middle of your basement, and the posts under it, carry a big share of the weight of the house.
When that beam has sagged, cracked or was undersized from the start, the floors above it dip toward the middle of the house. We replace it and its posts with steel, so the load is carried the way it was meant to be.
06
Drainage Around Your Foundation
Most of the foundation problems we fix start with rainwater collecting against the house instead of draining away from it.
Johnson County's guideline says the ground should drop at least 6 inches in the first 10 feet out from your foundation. If your yard slopes back toward the house instead, every heavy rain sends water straight to your foundation walls.
Depending on your yard, we regrade the soil so it slopes away, run your downspouts farther out or put in a French drain that catches the water underground and carries it off. Getting that water away from the house also protects every other repair on your foundation.
Your foundation inspection
What Your House Tells Us During an Inspection
01
We Start Where You Noticed the Problem
Most people call about something they can see: water after a heavy rain, a crack in a wall, a wall bowing inward or a floor that slopes toward one corner.
We start right there with you, because where the problem is and when it started tells us which part of the foundation to look at first.
02
We Read Which Way the Cracks Run
Next we look at the cracks in your basement walls with you and explain what each one means. A sideways crack with the wall leaning in points to soil pushing from outside, and a crack that is wider up near the ceiling than down by the floor points to a settled footing.
A thin crack running straight up and down is different. It is often left over from when the concrete cured, and sealing it may be all it takes.
03
We Show You Whether the Crack Is Still Moving
Old paint or caulk still unbroken across a crack tells us it has not opened up in a long time. A crack you have watched get longer or wider is still getting worse.
If the crack is not a structural problem, you do not need a foundation repair. You may still want it sealed so water cannot come through it, and either way we show you what to keep an eye on.
04
We Find the Water Outside That Caused the Crack
When a crack is structural, water outside is usually what started it. We walk the outside of the house with you to find a downspout emptying beside the foundation or a low spot where puddles sit against the wall.
If we repaired the wall and left the water alone, that wet ground would keep pushing on it, so the water outside gets fixed along with the wall.
Where we work
Serving the Kansas City Metro
We're based in Gardner, and we're a growing company. Right now we're expanding about 45 miles out in every direction, which covers most of the metro on both sides of the state line. Not sure if we make it out your way? Give us a call and ask.
Kansas Service Area
- Gardner
- Olathe
- Overland Park
- Shawnee
- Lenexa
- Leawood
- Prairie Village
- Merriam
- Mission
- Spring Hill
- Edgerton
- De Soto
- Lawrence
- Eudora
- Baldwin City
- Ottawa
- Wellsville
- Paola
- Louisburg
- Kansas City
Missouri Service Area
- Kansas City
- Belton
- Grandview
- Raymore
- Peculiar
- Harrisonville
- Lee's Summit
- Raytown
- Independence
- Blue Springs
Free estimate
Schedule Your Free Foundation Inspection
A few details in the message box help us know where to start looking: which wall or room it is in, when you first noticed it, and whether it seems to change with the seasons.
There is no charge for the inspection or the estimate.
- Phone
- (913) 444-0115
- Location
- Gardner, KS 66030
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Saturday and Sunday, Closed
Worth knowing
What We Want Every Homeowner to Know About Foundation Repair
Most foundation problems get worse slowly, which makes them easy to put off. Here is what to know before you decide what to do about yours.
The Signs Usually Point to the Right Repair
A bowing wall or a horizontal crack usually means the soil outside is pushing on that wall, while a floor that slopes toward one corner usually means the footing under that corner has settled.
Plenty of houses have more than one of those going on at once, so we check your walls for bowing, your floors for level and where your rainwater drains before we recommend anything. Once we have the whole picture, you get our recommendation and what it costs in writing before you decide.
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