Stabilizing a West Branch Foundation After Tree Damage

Challenge

Michael called last spring when, after a tree had fallen on his house the summer before, he noticed multiple cracks in his basement walls. A door in the basement had also stopped opening properly, which he knew meant something was off-kilter. He called us in hopes of preventing further damage to his home and making sure his family was safe.

System Design Specialist Justin inspected the foundation and found that multiple walls were bowing or leaning, putting the safety of the home at risk. Making things more complicated was the fact that one of the walls was wooden and had vertical beams, which makes it more difficult to stabilize. Luckily, there isn’t a foundation type we haven’t encountered, so Justin knew what to do.

Solution

We installed GeoLock wall anchors along the two bowing walls to prevent further deflection. GeoLock anchors consist of two plates - one inside the basement and one anchored in stable soil outside - connected by a steel cable. Over time, these can be tightened to hopefully return the walls closer to their original position, but no matter what, we guarantee they won’t bow any further. A few of the anchors were secured under the driveway, so we removed and replaced portions of the concrete in the process.

For the wooden wall, a C-channel anchor was installed. The channel anchor looks like a long beam but has spots for the same steel cables as the GeoLock plates and is anchored into the soil the same way. Installing a channel anchor allowed us to cover the span of the wooden wall and provide just as much stability as we did on the concrete walls.

Finally, we buried the downspouts to reroute water runoff from the roof. Downspouts that end too close to a foundation can lead to water intrusion or even put excess pressure on walls and cause bowing. By extending and burying the downspouts, we can work with the grade of the lawn and route water out and away from the foundation.

At the end of the project, Michael got exactly what he wanted - safe, stable walls, and a door that opened and closed freely.