Professional Bowing Wall Repair in St. Louis, MO and the Surrounding Areas
If your basement walls are bowing, buckling, or leaning inward, it is a sign of excessive lateral pressure on them from the outside.
The soil around your foundation can place enormous pressure on your basement walls. While there is constant pressure pushing inward, there is no equalizing pressure pushing outward. Over time, when this inward pressure is greater than the strength of your walls, they will begin to weaken and fail, jeopardizing the structural integrity of your foundation and negatively impacting the value of your property. As such, efforts to stabilize or straighten bowing, buckling, or leaning walls should be taken quickly.
What Causes Basement Walls to Bow or Lean Inward?
Bowing or leaning basement walls are primarily caused by expansive soils or excess hydrostatic pressure. Expansive soils push against the wall due to water or frost effects. Hydrostatic pressure refers to the pressure caused by excess ground water in the soil surrounding your foundation. The buildup of excess water in the soil increases the overall weight of the soil. The heavier soil then pushes on the foundation causing leaning or bowed foundation walls.
Ineffective gutters and downspouts may also contribute to bowing or leaning walls. If roof runoff isn’t directed away from your foundation, the soil around the foundation will become heavier and more expansive, leading to hydrostatic pressure.
Cracks in foundation walls are often the first sign of bowing, buckling, or leaning walls. Because these cracks can allow water to enter your basement, bowing or leaning walls may also require an additional basement waterproofing system.
If you have noticed any foundation wall cracks or have bowing or leaning foundation walls, contact our team today by calling 636-225-2553 or by clicking the button below to schedule an appointment.
We use engineer designed products approved by the International Code Council to stabilize or straighten bowing or leaning basement walls. If the basement wall fails, it will need to be rebuilt, and rebuilding a foundation wall can involve jacking up the house, excavation, and relocating utilities, which can be very expensive.
What Causes Basement Walls to Bow or Lean Inward?
We use engineer designed products approved by the International Code Council to stabilize or straighten bowing or leaning basement walls. If the basement wall fails, it will need to be rebuilt, and rebuilding a foundation wall can involve jacking up the house, excavation, and relocating utilities, which can be very expensive.
How We Repair Bowing Walls
Methods for repairing bowing, buckling, or leaning foundation walls vary, because each project involves different criteria. The same repair used for one project may not be applicable on another project. At Perma Jack of St. Louis, we utilize four different methods: Steel I-Beams, Plate Anchors, Helical Tiebacks, or Carbon Fiber Straps. Each one follows strict structural engineering standards and is time tested and proven to be effective.
Steel I-Beams
Steel I-beams are one of the most effective methods for stabilizing bowing, buckling, or leaning walls. If your basement walls are just starting to show horizontal cracks or have a minimal bow in them, we can install custom designed and fitted steel I-beams. The beam is placed vertically against the wall and locked in place below the level of the footing in a concrete filled pad. The beam is often connected to a floor joist at the top using a joist reinforcement bracket, which distributes the load evenly and prevents damage to the wood joist. Proper installation prevents the wall from bowing or buckling by exerting pressure from the inside.
Plate Anchors
Plate Anchors are an economical and minimally invasive method for providing supplemental lateral force to stabilize bowing, buckling, or leaning walls affected by hydrostatic pressures. Installed on either poured or block foundation walls, a small hole is drilled through the bowing wall, a rod is then driven through the hole and connected to the outside earth anchor, which is seated deep in a small hole. Finally, a wall plate is attached over the rod on the interior basement wall. Once installed, the plate is tightened into place, which then anchors the wall in its current position and prevents further movement.
Helical Tiebacks
Helical wall tiebacks are designed to stabilize, straighten, or strengthen basement and retaining walls. This method of shoring has become very popular with the engineering community due to their strength and ease of measuring capacity. Similar to helical piers work, the tiebacks are screwed into the soil horizontally through a small hole in the wall. They are then tested for strength. Once installed they pull the wall back to its original position and anchor into stable soil that does not expand due to weather seasonality.
Carbon Fiber Straps
Carbon fiber straps are designed to repair bowing, buckling, and leaning basement walls with a small amount of bow. They are designed with a vertical weave to withstand inward pressure from the bowed wall. This prevents further bowing with some additional benefits. If used on a bowed wall with a crack they can also prevent the crack from spreading and leaking water.
Bowed Wall Repair Gallery
Contact Our Team for Bowed Basement Wall Repair in St. Louis
Choosing one wall bracing or wall bracket system over another is based on a number of factors that require a comprehensive inspection and evaluation by a qualified technician. Our team of experts have decades of experience helping home and business owners across St. Louis solve bowed or leaning basement wall issues.
If you’ve got foundation wall cracks or bowing, buckling, or leaning basement walls, give us a call today at 636-225-2553 for a free consultation and inspection. We can then determine whether basement wall braces and wall bracing is right for you. If it is, we can design a repair solution engineered to meet your specific needs. You can also visit our contact page or fill out the form below.
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Repair Technician was prompt, professional and a job WELL DONE. Pricing is right and no hesitation to refer to anyone who needs foundation problems fixed right.
