America's Basement Contractor

Description of Work: .

Description of Work: I contacted America's Basement Contractor

Description of Work: In our 20 year old sun room extension to our house, cracks appeared in the brick and concrete foundation and opened about 3/8 inch in ~3 months. In a prompt response to my panic call, they proposed installing 5 steel piers to raise the sunken portion back to normal. The trench opened to install the piers revealed that bedrock depths varied from about one to many feet deep at the best pier sites and that the original foundation had been set on viscous clays so that simple steel piers would be unreliable. A.J. designed instead concrete pillars to be in deep pits with rebar extending deeper down through the clay some feet to bedrock. Jacks were then set on the concrete pillars to lift lengths of 4x4 angle steel for support under the old foundation. The jacks were then buried in concrete up to the bottom of the old foundation for permanence. J.P. explained the design and had the borough engineer's approval and mine before the installation. They used plywood on the lawn to hold the excavated rock and soil and neatly recovered as much landscaping as feasible when finished and carried away the wastes. During the 3 working days needed (more than the 2 in their estimate), they stayed on schedule and charged no extra for the more involved repairs used compared to the early pier design. I am impressed by their experience-based expertise and their flexibility in finding the best method.

Description of Work: Enclosed basement crawlspaces with drainage and pump.