Restoring Dangerous Crumbling Walls with Shotcrete in Grand Rapids, MI

Challenge

When you spot a crack in your basement wall, or notice it bowing, you probably have a pretty good idea what the repair will look like. You’ll call us and we’ll brace and stabilize it, hopefully straightening it over time. But what do you do when your basement walls are stone and literally falling down before your eyes?

You still call us.

This is what Dan in Grand Rapids was facing when he called us. His stone walls, especially prominent in houses like his 100+ year old home, varied from crumbling to all but collapsed. There were constant water issues and one wall had all but totally fallen down. The floors upstairs were starting to sink as a result, and he wasn’t sure how to save the house.

Solution

Our service technician Ian saw upon inspection that while the interior stone walls were failing and one had even crumbled into a pile of rocks, even the exterior of the foundation was falling out of alignment and problems were building throughout the home.

To level the floors, we installed 15 supplemental steel beams to reinforce the sagging joists. We also installed 4 SmartJack steel crawl space support posts to lift the badly sinking spots and secure them against further damage. 

While that took care of the floors, there was still the major issue of the crumbling stone walls. There was a time when this foundation would be unsalvageable and Dan’s options would essentially be to lift the whole home and tear out the existing foundation to pour a new one, or to scrap the home entirely and either sell it at a loss or just tear it down and start over. That’s a lot of destruction, expense, and logistical nightmare.

Today, we have Shotcrete. After installing a steel framework on the walls, we used a special spray application process to create new concrete walls right in place. Shotcrete is a cost effective and relatively simple answer to the problem of crumbling walls and all it takes is a few days to apply and cure, and a little noise. Upon completion, structurally sound walls take on the weight of the home and eliminate the risk of collapse.

What was once a pretty hopeless situation became an easy fix with the help of shotcrete and some steel, and Dan’s house is safe.