What people actually ask about foundation repair
These are questions people type into a search box before they call anyone, answered one to a page. Each one says what the general answer is and then what it means on St. Louis ground, because the second half is the part a national article cannot tell you.
If your question is not here, the address is the fastest way to an answer. Most of what decides a foundation repair job is decided by the ground under one particular house.
How much does foundation repair cost?
The published range is wide because the thing being priced is the number of support points, not the house.
How do I know if I need foundation repair?
The useful test is not what you can see. It is whether what you can see is still changing.
Is foundation repair covered by homeowners insurance?
It turns on the cause, and the cause is what an inspection establishes.
Does foundation repair affect home value?
An unquantified problem costs more than a documented repair does.
How long does foundation repair last?
The support lasts. Whether the house stays still depends on what you did about the water.
Does foundation repair come with a warranty?
Usually, and the important question is what it actually covers.
Does foundation repair cause plumbing problems?
It can, because the pipes settled with the house and lifting moves them back.
Are foundation repair companies structural engineers?
No, and the distinction decides which document you end up with.
Does foundation repair require a permit?
Often, and it is a question with a local answer rather than a general one.
How long does a foundation inspection take?
Under two hours for most single-story houses, and longer for anything with more than one floor plane.
How much does a foundation inspection cost?
Far less than the repair, and some firms credit it against the work.
When should foundation cracks be repaired?
After the movement has stopped, and not before.
Are foundation cracks serious?
Most are not. What separates the ones that are is change, not width.
Can foundation repair be done in the rain?
Some of it, badly. Most firms will reschedule, and the reason is the soil rather than the crew.
Does foundation repair really work?
The support works. Whether the house stays still is a separate question with a separate answer.
How much does foundation repair cost per square foot?
It is the wrong unit, and pricing by it will mislead you in both directions.
Can foundation repair cause more damage?
Yes, and the two common ways are both scope decisions rather than accidents.
Is foundation repair worth it?
It depends on what you are optimizing for, and there are three different answers.
How does foundation repair work?
Reach ground that does not move, transfer the load to it, and recover what movement the house will safely give back.
Is foundation repair tax deductible?
This is a tax question, not a construction one, and the answer turns on how the property is used.
Can foundation repair be financed?
Commonly, and the terms are worth comparing as carefully as the repair scope.
Does foundation repair hurt resale?
A documented repair helps. An undocumented one, or a hidden one, does not.
The foundation repair work these questions are about
- Foundation Repair Inspection in St. Louis, MO
- Foundation Crack Repair in St. Louis, MO
- House Foundation Leveling in St. Louis, MO
- Concrete Leveling Repair in St. Louis, MO
- Basement Wall Repair in St. Louis, MO
- Foundation Drainage and Moisture Control in St. Louis, MO
- Commercial Foundation Repair in St. Louis, MO
- Crawl Space Repair in St. Louis, MO
- Push Piers vs Helical Piers in St. Louis, MO
- Mudjacking vs Foam Lifting in St. Louis, MO
- Foundation Repair Cost in St. Louis, MO
When you do not need foundation repair
Two things get mistaken for foundation failure more than anything else. The first is a hairline crack in a poured basement wall or in mortar. If it has been there for years and has not widened, it is usually a shrinkage crack from when the concrete cured, not a structural one. The second is a door that binds through the damp months and swings free in the dry ones. That door is following the season. Wood framing takes on moisture and gives it back, and the door and its frame move with it. Neither one is a reason to put piers under a house or anchors through a wall. A contractor who quotes on either without measuring first is selling you the wrong job.
Two checks worth making before anyone quotes you.
- Date the crack. Mark both ends with a pencil and write the date on the wall beside it. Measure the width against something known: a dime is about a sixteenth of an inch. Look again in three months. A crack that has not moved is not an active one, and no pier will make it narrower.
- Watch one door through a season change. A door that sticks for part of the year and clears again when the season turns is tracking the weather. It is not a failing foundation. A door that has bound a little harder every year for two years is the one worth an inspection. That is the pattern to describe when you call.
If both checks come back quiet, wait a season and look again before spending anything larger.
Read what a St. Louis foundation repair job costs before calling anyone, and check the St. Louis Foundation Repair Co service area to see whether your street is covered.
Back to St. Louis Foundation Repair Co.
The ground under St. Louis
Most of these answers turn on the ground, and this is the ground
The largest soil mapped under St. Louis is Urban land-Vandeventer-Harvester complex, 3 to 8 percent slopes
A soil survey names and maps every soil in the county, and this unit covers more of St. Louis than any other. The questions on this page are national ones. What they mean for a house here depends on the soil under it: how deep support has to reach, and how long the ground stays wet. Look up the soil at your own address on the USDA Web Soil Survey, which is free.
USDA NRCS Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO), via Soil Data Access
Where rain goes once it lands is the second half of most answers here
The largest soil on the St. Louis map is hydrologic group C
Hydrologic soil group is the USDA's one-letter summary of how fast water moves down through a soil. A and B drain; C and D shed. Ground that sheds keeps water near the surface and beside the house for longer. That is why so many answers here come back to the grade and the roof water before anything structural.
USDA NRCS Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO), via Soil Data Access
Ground that is saturated has nowhere to put the next storm, and water sitting against a wall keeps working on it.
What happens after you send an address
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The address first, and only then who you are
The first screen asks for the property address and checks that a contractor covers it. Only if one does does it ask for a name, a phone number and an email — there is no point taking your details to tell you nobody serves your street.
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Your details are not for sale
It goes to a foundation repair contractor working in St. Louis. The details are never sold, and never passed to a second firm.
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No cost, and nothing attached
There is no fee for sending an address and no obligation that follows from it. Deciding the work is the wrong work is a perfectly good outcome.
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Who does the work
An independent foundation repair contractor, not the publisher of this site. Who runs this site, and where every figure on it comes from, is set out on the about page.