Repairing Bowed or Leaning Walls

Should you have bowed or leaning foundation walls, these may cause serious structural damage if not fixed. From an engineering explanation, this condition originates when hydrostatic pressure from high water gets to be too great. This affects the soil surrounding the dwelling, which enlarges and applies stress. All this pressure pushes the foundation wall in. The basement wall cracks you notice in your St. Charles or St. Louis house are proof that the structure is moving.

Bowing basement walls with a block foundation have symptoms that can include cracks in mortar joints, stair-step cracks at exterior corners, horizontal shearing towards the bottom of the wall and tipping at the top of the wall.  You may see basement walls that are bulging and have cracks throughout the wall.  If this is actually the case, the wall is possibly on the verge of a collapse.

Poured foundation walls show warning signs like the tipping of the wall, diagonal cracks at exterior corners, and vertical or horizontal fractures in the wall.

The good news is we at Ramjack of St. Louis have experience solving these kinds of bowed wall problems using proven engineered helical wall anchor systems. We use these machined anchors, which are machine drilled past the active zone of moving earth at a descending angle, to support the structure or even restore your house to its initial position.

Soil exerts pressure on your foundation wall

Helical wall anchors are installed to straighten and stabilize bowed walls

Foundation wall is than backfilled and water drainage is addressed

It's also possible to deal with footing drain issues that may have been the cause of the issue at the same time.  We also carry a full line of helical tieback anchors and soil nails for commercial applications where engineered solutions are needed.

So don't take a chance with someone that doesn't really know what they are going, contact Ram Jack of St. Louis today!