Proactive Repairs Save a Cracked Foundation in Okemos, MI

Challenge

It isn’t every day that your house starts to collapse because of a groundhog but that’s what happened to Steve and Sarah in Okemos.

The groundhog in question had dug a trench so deep that it had actually gotten under a part of the block wall crawl space. The upheaval had caused at least one of the blocks to crack, and Steve and Sarah were concerned that it would cause future foundation problems if not fixed quickly so they called us.

Solution

Since they were proactive and didn’t wait for the problem to get worse before calling, we were able to provide a relatively easy solution. The groundhog had done much of the digging for us, but we still needed to excavate a little more of the soil surrounding the foundation. We poured a new footer for the floor in the affected area, and replaced the cracked blocks.

Had they waited, it’s likely that the foundation would’ve sunk and cracked even further as the structural integrity was compromised. At that point we would’ve needed to excavate AGAIN and install helical piers to support the weight of the house. But their quick thinking saved time, money, and headaches.

The groundhog could not be reached for comment.