We understand that your home is not just any building. It’s your sanctuary, the place where you should always feel secure. Unfortunately, when your home has foundation issues, that security feels threatened.
Addressing foundation issues in your home is crucial and should be handled by trained professionals using expertly engineered methods and tailored approaches. Foundation problems that are ignored have a way of spiraling, becoming more costly over time and potentially more complicated if not addressed. That’s why our team at Dry Pro Foundation and Crawl Space Specialists never compromises on quality .
Every year, we provide our professional foundation repair solutions to thousands of homes in the Charlotte, North Carolina, metropolitan area.
Receive a free inspection from a local Dry Pro inspector, complete with a proposal that is tailored to your home’s unique needs and permanently addresses any foundation issues. Reach out to us today to plan your free inspection, enhance your home’s foundation, and ensure your home remains the safest spot in the world.
Why is Foundation Repair Important?
Dry Pro understands that undertaking foundation repairs can feel daunting and expensive. This often leads to delaying the much-needed fixes, but doing so only exacerbates the issue and can lead to even higher expenses in the long run.
Together, we can solve your foundation issues head on now.
Safety Hazards
When your home suffers from foundation issues, the primary concern is the possibility of structural collapse, accompanied by various safety hazards can happen well before that point. While minor problems such as uneven floors may not appear significant at first, a leaning chimney will eventually collapse.
Sticking doors and windows is undoubtedly inconvenient, but they can become potential disasters during emergencies. You deserve to reside in a secure environment, which is why our goal is to permanently stabilize your foundation and proactively prevent potential hazards like these.
Decreased Home Value
One of your main concerns is likely to be maximizing the value of your home when or if you decide to sell it. While foundation damage may appear to progress slowly, even minor issues will significantly reduce the property’s value. Wall and floor cracks are clear indicators of foundation problems that potential buyers and home inspectors will undoubtedly notice.
Simply covering up these issues won’t solve the underlying problem, as they will inevitably resurface. Don’t put your most valuable investment, your home, at risk by opting for cheap and inadequate fixes. Choose Dry Pro for top-quality, permanent solutions.
Decreased Functionality
Foundation damage hinders the daily, natural use of your living space. Doors and windows struggle to function correctly, belongings topple off countertops, and there’s a rattling noise from dishes every time you step into the kitchen. We’ve even heard stories of infants in wheeled highchairs rolling across uneven floors on their own! Such constant nuisances underline the increasing issues hidden beneath your home’s surface. It’s frustrating, we know, and we agree that you deserve better than to feel like your home is falling to pieces.
Expensive Home Damage
The fact is, as damage increases, so do repair costs. Foundation problems won’t fix themselves and they only get worse if left untreated. Foundation issues also lead to secondary forms of damage, like cracks in the floor, walls, and ceiling. By proactively addressing the underlying cause of foundation issues, you can avoid additional, costly repairs and reclaim peace of mind in the sanctuary that is your home.
Protect Your Investment and Ensure Your Safety
Identifying Foundation Problem Signs
Foundation damage causes a variety of problems in your home. The most common problems include:
- Wall cracks
- Stuck windows and doors
- Sagging or uneven floors
- Bowing Walls
- Gaps between walls, ceilings, or floors
- Leaning chimneys
- Visible cracks in exterior brickwork
- Water Damage
- Mold Growth
If you notice any of these problem signs, contact a professional foundation repair contractor as soon as possible.
What Causes Foundation Damage?
Water and soil are indeed the primary factors contributing to foundation damage. Their combined effect around Charlotte, NC’s unique environmental conditions can trigger an array of problems for your foundation.
Excessive water leads to soil expansion beneath your foundation, while a lack of water causes the soil to contract. Both circumstances result in shifting of the foundation piers that uphold your home. Moreover, rapid soil expansion and contraction due to swift fluctuations between heavy rainfall and dry periods exacerbate your foundation issues, making them more challenging to manage.
In the Charlotte area, specific weather patterns and soil types often contribute to these predicaments. North Carolina is home to several clay and acid forest soil types such as Ultisols and Inceptisols. These soils are known for their high shrink-swell potential—meaning they expand when wet and contract when dry. This behavior can lead to soil oversaturation or extreme dryness, causing instability in your home’s foundation.
Numerous factors amplify these conditions:
- Local weather events (frequent rainfall, storms, etc.)
- Substandard drainage (inefficient gutters, improper yard sloping)
- Subterranean water sources (aquifers, underground water bodies)
- Natural disasters (flash floods, hurricanes)
Besides soil-related problems, other less frequent but still significant causes of foundation damage in the Charlotte, NC metro area include plumbing leaks and the intrusion of tree roots growing too close to your house, which can potentially pierce the foundation’s footing.
The Dry Pro Solution
No matter what your home is facing, Dry Pro offers custom-built, engineered solutions to remedy them. We consistently push the boundaries to design and create our proprietary products that can resist the forces of nature and the passage of time.
All our foundation repair interventions come with a Life of the Structure Warranty, guaranteeing Dry Pro’s unwavering support for its work. All our warranties are transferable, meaning if you decide to sell your property, the new owner benefits from the same support.
SettleStop Pier Systems
If you notice popping noises, wall cracks, or problems with doors and windows in your home, the cause is unstable soil. To permanently stabilize your home, reaching bedrock or load-bearing strata is key. That’s where our SettleStop pier systems come into play.
The process involves:
- Removing soil to expose the foundation footing.
- Placing the piers next to the foundation.
- Lowering them until they reach the necessary depth for support.
- Next, we secure a heavy-duty steel bracket to the footing and transfer the home’s weight through the piers to the stable soil below.
Our pier systems not only prevent future settling, but also offer the opportunity to lift your home back to its original position. Rest easy knowing your home is fully backed by our lifetime warranty that is transferable to new homeowners. Our piers provide better stability and ensure your home remains safe for years to come.
Dry Pro uses two types of pier systems to accomplish this – helical piers and push piers. Both types accomplish the same goal but have slightly different designs and applications.
Here’s how these pier systems work:
Helical Piers
The SettleStop Helical Pier System by Dry Pro provides a reliable solution for securing your home’s foundation. Made from durable steel, the piers feature helical plates at their ends that function like screws, ensuring a stable soil hold beneath your property.
Our process involves excavating the soil around the footing and using hydraulic equipment to install the piers next to the foundation. The helical blades slice through the soil like a screw, and our team monitors their progress until they reach the required depths and capacities.
A heavy-duty steel bracket is secured to the footing, and the weight of the home is transferred through the piers to stable soil below.
As part of our installation process, we take the extra step of installing benchmarks using a laser level and small rivets on the exterior foundation walls. You can count on us to come back and confirm the security of the pier foundation by realigning the laser level with the rivets.
Helical piers can be used in many situations and work best beneath lighter structures.
Push Piers
SettleStop Push Piers work similarly to helical piers, but with a slightly different design and installation process. Made of sturdy steel, they’re driven deep into the ground and bypass problematic soil until they reach bedrock. Once in place, your home rests securely on these piers for lasting stability. The process involves removing soil to expose the footing, securing the bracket in place, and driving the piers through to ensure long-term stability for your home.
SettleStop Wall Repair Tools
A home’s basement should always be dry. However, if the foundation is damaged, the walls can develop cracks and bow, allowing water to enter.
Protect your basement walls from damage with our effective wall repair solutions. Our solutions not only prevent issues like mold or efflorescence, but also ensure minimal disruption to your home and yard. Our clean and fast installation process takes place mostly inside your basement. Here are our expertly crafted wall repair options:
Wall Anchors
SettleStop Wall Anchors work by using anchor plates that are installed both indoors and outdoors. The plates are connected to steel rods, which are tightened using specialized wrenches.
This creates tension that restores the structural integrity of your basement walls and prevents any further inward movement.
I-Beams
In some cases, it may not be possible to use wall anchors due to tight property lines or yard space. That’s where SettleStop IntelliBrace I-beams come in – the go-to solution for these situations.
Our sturdy steel I-beams are installed vertically against the interior surface of basement walls and securely anchored to the floor and joists using brackets. Once tightened, they apply pressure against the walls to keep them in place and redistribute the load from walls to floor and floor joists.
Not only does this prevent further inward movement, but it also stabilizes your basement walls long-term.
Carbon Fiber Reinforcement
SettleStop Carbon Fiber Straps are the perfect solution for limited spaces. Our carbon fiber reinforcement is designed to fit snugly into tight spaces while effectively strengthening and stabilizing basement walls.
To install this solution, high-strength carbon fiber straps are securely applied to the interior surface of your walls using epoxy adhesive. This provides additional support and resistance against hydrostatic pressure.
As an added bonus, the carbon fiber reinforcement process is minimally invasive and takes place entirely within your basement.
SettleStop IntelliJack™ Crawl Space Support Posts
A damaged crawl space leads to potential issues like sagging floors, creaky noises, tripping, or rattling furniture. Not to mention, they look unpleasant, but our SettleStop IntelliJack™ crawl space support posts provide the perfect solution for these issues.
Made of steel, our support posts easily strengthen sagging or weak floor joists in crawl spaces. By installing your SettleStop IntelliJack™ beneath the floor joists and securing them to the support beams above, they provide additional upward support and stabilize the floor above.
Plus, our crawl space support system can handle an impressive load capacity of over 24,000 lbs per support jack and is certified to the highest industry standards.
We understand how important your home is because we’re homeowners too. That’s why we know you deserve locally trusted experts and best-in-class products designed for your home. And that’s why we can guarantee permanent stabilization of your foundation.
View more Foundation Repair Solutions >>
Factors Affecting Foundation Repair Cost
The cost of foundation repair on a home can vary depending on several factors, including:
- Type of foundation: Repair costs for foundations vary depending on the type of foundation. The techniques used for repairing slab foundations differ from pier and beam foundations, impacting the cost difference.
- Location: The cost of foundation repairs can be impacted by the location of the home. When the area has a higher cost of living or stricter building codes, the repair costs are likely to be higher as well.
- Extent of damage: The cost of repairing a foundation greatly depends on the extent of its damage. For example, repairing minor cracks is typically less expensive than addressing large shifts or extensive structural damage.
- Soil conditions: The soil surrounding a foundation and its stability are factors that affect the cost of repairs. For instance, expansive soil that expands and contracts with moisture fluctuations can result in more severe foundation problems that require costly repairs.
Overall, the cost of foundation repair will depend on the unique circumstances of each home and the severity of the foundation issues that need to be addressed.
Award-Winning Service
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Andrew, Cody and Daniel Davis were excellent! They were super nice and professional. They did a great job and cleaned up when done. Was very impressed!
View review Read Vicki Flack's review for Dry Pro Foundation and Crawlspace Specialists
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We had foundation work done on our house and everyone involved was professional, friendly, and explained everything from start to finish. The quote was fair and broken down for each part of the job. The work was scheduled quickly and the team…
View review Read Spencer Lueders's review for Dry Pro Foundation and Crawlspace Specialists
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Our DryPro experience was excellent. From the inspection to the completion, each step was professional and thorough. Justin, William and Ethan N deserve a 10 out of 10. We even had an unsolicited endorsement of DryPro’s quality from our long time…
View review Read Maria Harris's review for Dry Pro Foundation and Crawlspace Specialists
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From getting my estimate to the finished product I have nothing but good things to say about this company! I especially want to thank Daniel Soto, Oscar Perla and Paulino Lopez. The guys were so amazing. Polite, respectful and informative. They…
View review Read Brandee Leutzinger's review for Dry Pro Foundation and Crawlspace Specialists
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I had some termite damage along my basement foundation that was preventing the installation of a new exterior door. I needed to get the damage fixed before it could be completed. From the start the team at Dry Pro was fantastic. It started with…
View review Read Christopher Flynn (chris)'s review for Dry Pro Foundation and Crawlspace Specialists
What to Expect from Dry Pro Foundation and Crawl Space Specialists
Far too often, homeowners like yourself encounter contractors who fail to fulfill their promises, exhibit poor communication, and take shortcuts.
At Dry Pro, we prioritize communication, safety, and transparency in all aspects of our work.
Our team is dedicated to providing exceptional service while treating your home with the utmost respect. From the initial inspection, where we cover our shoes with clean booties upon entering, to the meticulous cleanup of the work site before our departure, we treat your home as if it were our own.
- Scheduling an Inspection: You can schedule an inspection by contacting us via phone, our online inquiry form, or booking an appointment on our website. Regardless of your chosen method, you will receive a confirmation email containing detailed information about Dry Pro and our proprietary solutions.
- 48-Hour Confirmation Call: Two days before the inspection, you will receive a call and a text message confirming the scheduled arrival time at your address.
- On the Way Call: On the day of the inspection, your Certified Field Inspector will give you an “on the way” call, ensuring that you know the exact time of their arrival. Additionally, our GPS system allows you to track the real-time location of our team, ensuring complete transparency.
- Arrival & Introduction: We understand that allowing a stranger to examine your house can be unsettling. Therefore, upon arrival, your Certified Field Inspector will politely introduce themselves. They will then provide you with ample time to explain any concerns you have regarding your home. Based on the information you provide, they will clearly communicate the planned inspection process and areas to be assessed.
- The Inspection: Your inspector will meticulously conduct a thorough inspection of your home’s interior and exterior. They will take precise measurements to create a detailed diagram and, with your permission, capture reference photos to assist our installation team. Our inspection process ensures that the issues you raised upon our arrival are addressed once the repairs are completed.
- Review of Outcomes: After completing the inspection, we will review the key findings with you and present a holistic plan for your foundation issues. While you have the final say in our work, the plan provides you with all the necessary information to make an informed decision for your home. We offer same-day estimates, letting you know the foundation repair costs and financing options from day one.
- Schedule Work: Once you are comfortable with the proposed solution, we will promptly schedule the work and determine an installation date that suits your availability. Our team handles any required work permits, carefully reviews the proposed solution, and, when necessary, involves a licensed structural engineer to oversee the foundation work. This additional level of protection ensures the safest and most professional service possible.
FAQs
Vapor barriers play a crucial part in protecting your foundation. Charlotte, NC has humid subtropical weather, meaning that there’s a lot of rain and humidity for the better part of the year. Without the right waterproofing solutions in place, your foundation will deteriorate thanks to how destructive water can be. A vapor barrier helps mitigate the damage, but it’s not all that’s needed to stop foundation settling.
What a Vapor Barrier Can Do
A vapor barrier keeps water out of your foundation. This helps prevent soil erosion, especially if you have a dirt crawl space. Without a vapor barrier, the soil around the support posts in the crawl space would erode, causing settling, which affects the entire house. Vapor barriers also prevent the materials in the crawl space from getting torn apart from the freeze-thaw effect.
How to Stop Foundation Settling
Besides a vapor barrier, you will need a crawl space sump pump, a perimeter drain, and a dehumidifier. All these things work together to protect your crawl space, prevent foundation deterioration, and keep your home healthy. A vapor barrier works wonders on its own, but without the other waterproofing solutions, your crawl space is vulnerable to things like condensation and frost heave damage.
Besides just making sure that your crawl space can handle water, you also need to make sure that as little water as possible is flowing towards it in the first place. You can do this by making certain alterations, such as pointing your downspouts away from your home or extending them. Make sure to also watch for clogging, especially during the fall and winter, when drains get clogged due to mud and leaves or they simply freeze over.
Any form of structural damage in your home can become worse, especially if left alone for a long time. Although concrete is strong, it is not the perfect material. It still requires some annual maintenance from a local expert. This allows it to be inspected every once and a while, as well as repaired when it needs to be.
Structural Damages
Once a crack has formed on your foundation wall, it always has the potential to grow larger and wider, especially if left alone. Cracks in foundation walls can extend to foundation floors, and, after years and years of neglect, they can even reach other areas of your home. You do not want this to happen to you, as structural damage in more than one area can be dangerous.
Structural damage also can cause your home to become uneven as well. This can happen via sinking, heaving, or tilting, depending on where the damage is found and how bad it is. Not only is this incredibly unsightly, but also this can make your home unsafe to inhabit.
Water Damages
Any opening in your foundation wall is an invitation for water to enter through. Water damage is quite common and can be one of the most expensive damages to repair. Some of these include:
- Mold and mildew
- Wood rot
- Musty odors
- Water stains
Leaks and floods also can introduce pests, both big and small. Many common insect pests are attracted to wet, humid environments, and cracks in foundation walls are the perfect way for them to enter your home. Larger pests, such as rodents, also can be tempted to enter your home through any available openings.
There are three main options that are offered by Dry Pro Foundation and Crawl Space Specialists: the IntelliBrace™ Wall Repair System, the Channel Anchor System, and the Wall Anchor System. Read on to figure out the differences between them to help you select the one that best fits your needs.
IntelliBrace™ Wall Repair System
When it comes down to it, the main difference between the three foundation wall repair systems depends on the amount of landscape space that you have around your home. For homeowners who have a limited landscape space, the IntelliBrace™ Wall Repair System is likely the best option for repairing cracks in your foundation walls, since it is non-invasive to your home. In fact, it is installed directly on the inside of your foundation walls, without any excavation needed!
Homeowners also do not need to worry about altering the look of their foundation walls or basement space, however. The IntelliBrace™ uses a very sleek metal beam that is coated with zinc to help it be extremely resistant to the formation of rust. Furthermore, it is not bulky at all, so you do not have to be concerned about how much space it takes. Once the IntelliBrace™ System is installed, it easily looks as if it has always been a part of your foundation wall but with extra benefits of stability, strength, and wall repair!
Channel and Wall Anchor System
Both the Channel and the Wall Anchor Systems are able to provide an intense amount of support for your foundation walls, helping them to remain stable and even repairing them over time. Unlike the IntelliBrace™ Wall Repair System, however, both Anchor Systems require our experts to drill holes around your property for installation. This is needed to properly place the anchor systems underground. Therefore, these two options work best for homeowners who have plenty of room in front of their landscaping to have them installed adequately.
The beams of the Channel and Wall Anchor Systems are constructed from a rust and corrosion resistant metal, so you are guaranteed to have them last a long time underground. These systems use the principle of an “equal but opposite force” against the problematic soil phenomena that occur because of the rainy and windy Charlotte, NC climate.
Cracked bricks are a sign of advanced settling since it indicates that the house can no longer withstand the weight of the uneven home. It causes major trouble for the structural integrity of your house.
- Why Replacing Isn’t a Viable Solution
Replacing your foundation isn’t a helpful solution for a few reasons: it’s extremely expensive, inconvenient, time-consuming, and your foundation will go through the same problem again in the future. To replace your foundation and build a new one would mean having to excavate around the entire house, put the house up on temporary supports, tearing the foundation apart, and then building a new foundation. This can take multiple days or weeks, and you will have to live somewhere else until the job is done.
After the new foundation is built, it will settle once more after a few years because the real problem, the soil, has not been addressed. If there is a layer of soil under the foundation, there will be erosion. The only way to stop it is to make sure that the foundation is no longer supported only by the soil.
- What Can Be Done Instead
Instead of replacing the foundation, you can stabilize the settling one by installing helical or push piers. Helical piers and push piers are steel rods that are installed deep underground. They transfer the weight of the house to the stable, load-bearing soil layers below. These soil layers are so deep underground that they do not erode as easily as the loose soil layers near your foundation.
By relying on the piers and the tough soil, your foundation is guaranteed to be supported by a system that never fails. Helical and push piers also can lift your foundation and even out your home. Once the house is even again, not only will the foundation no longer settle but also your bricks will no longer crack as well.
Once your foundation wall repairs have been completed, you will want to start considering how to protect your foundation in the future. This is crucial to prevent destabilizing factors, such as moisture, from ever becoming a fundamental problem for your home again. Make sure you ask your professional contractor what means you can invest in to further protect your foundation walls in the future.
Invest in Regular Home Inspections
An inspection can take under an hour if your home receives annual check-ups, or it may take several hours during your first inspection. This allows the expert to fully check over your foundation, the surrounding area, your basement and crawl space, and other areas of your home. They will be looking for problem signs and subtle indicators of stress on your foundation. This lets them catch problems early and apply small fixes to keep your home in top condition.
Waterproofing Your Basement
If you have undertaken and completed foundation repairs for bowing walls in your home, then investing in adequate waterproofing measures is crucial to further protecting your foundation walls. This also has the double advantage of increasing the lifespan of the newly installed wall anchors.
Both sump pumps and dehumidifiers used in conjunction with one another after foundation repairs are a great (and common) way to protect your foundation walls. These also can be used in conjunction with interior drainage systems to carry unwanted water away from your foundation walls.
Making Mistakes During Installation
If you attempt to repair your own foundation walls, then there is a high chance that you won’t be able to access the same industry gear and equipment used to work on these projects. Even if you can, these solutions often require a great deal of experience to install properly. The most knowledgeable laymen can still make an honest mistake, and, in the realm of foundation damage, this can be catastrophic.
For example, wall anchors are difficult to install properly. If you install a wall anchor only halfway, then you might leave assuming that your home is safe from further foundation damage, when, it is not. Foundation damage that is allowed to fester will only get worse over time. If you make mistakes during the DIY foundation repairs, then in a few months time, you might be looking at more serious problem of foundation sinking.
Money Losses
Repairing damaged foundation walls or structural supports on your own is a very costly endeavor. It involves getting your hands on effective wall anchors or braces, having the correct tools to install them, and having the correct materials to repair cracks and leakages that could be compounding the problem.
The lack of industry connections on the part of the average homeowner means that repairing foundation damage on your own can turn out to be much more costly than having a professional service do the job for you. Moreover, if you make mistakes during your DIY repairs that lead to even more serious issues, you will have to hire a professional service to first fix your DIY repairs and then install repairs of their own. This might compound the costs to much more than it would have been had you avoided DIY repairs altogether.
