Foundation raising in Glendale CA - a lift that holds because we fix the cause first

Most people call us after a door starts sticking or a crack they patched opens up again, and the real question underneath is whether the house is still moving. What you'll pay mostly turns on whether the house sits on a slab or over a crawl space, how much of it has dropped, how many supports it takes and what it'll take to stop the cause, like rerouting water or fixing a leak. The schedule turns on those same things plus any permit the job needs, and the written estimate I give you after I've looked spells out what's included, so you can see your own figure.

Before anything gets lifted, I want to know why the house settled, whether that's water running toward it, a leaking line or the soil, because lifting without fixing the cause won't last. So we start by looking at where the water goes and where the floor has dropped, then plan the fix for the cause right alongside the lift. On the work days we dig out where the supports go, raise the low section a little at a time, set the permanent supports and pack the dirt back around them. We aim for a sensible lift rather than dead level, because forcing a house perfectly flat tends to crack plaster, tile and plumbing somewhere else, and one cost guide says most experienced crews stop at a partial lift for that same reason. The part people most want to cut from the budget is the cause, since nobody sees it once the floor's back up, but that's where I'd put the money first.

Settling rarely stays under the house. When supports have to go in beneath an existing slab or a walkway along the wall, we use concrete cutting to open just that spot instead of breaking out more than we need. And if a driveway has been tipping water back at the house, part of fixing the cause can be concrete driveway building, pouring a new one that falls away from the house so water stops collecting where it dropped.