Before & After Photos

A homeowner in Camden called because they had purchased an old home and the floors were sagging towards the middle of the house. DryZone was able to come in and help by installing the SmartJack Stabilizer. The before picture is what was holding up the home before DryZone was called, and the after picture is the SmartJack we installed for the home. 

This home was built somewhere in the 1930's. There weren't a lot of strict regulations on home building back then like there are today. At some point in the home's history, a homeowner tried to add supports to the sagging floors. The type of jacks that were used are only meant for temporary, light duty usage. When standing in the home, there is a noticeable dip in the floor towards the center of the house. DryZone was able to use the SmartJack support system to drastically improve the supporting structure. The SmartJack system is usually a crawlspace product. In this case, we were able to order longer poles for the jacks to accommodate the basement height. You can see the difference in size, certainly, but its the clean threads on the screws that make this system truly superior. The zinc plating on a SmartJack means that it will resist corrosion and can easily be adjusted if the need should arise.

A concrete slab is very thick and heavy. When the ground beneath it gets washed away or settles, there are large voids left behind. Most slabs are poured directly on the dirt, so nothing else is supporting them. When the dirt is gone, the slab cracks. A slab pier system is designed to support the slab on heavy soils found far below the surface. When the DryZone crew starts to try and lift, many of the cracks will close up a little.

The wood under this home was so bad that it was amazing someone hadn't fallen through the floor. Almost every single floor joist and girder was rotted or eaten by termites, completely gone in some cases. DryZone was hired to remove the old wood and replace it with fresh pieces. This process took almost two full weeks, as you can imagine it is not an easy task. The end result was a sturdy support system of new and dry wood. The homeowner expressed and interest in CleanSpace encapsulation as well, to prevent history from repeating.

When a home doesn't have a crawlspace or basement, how does DryZone fix a broken foundation? The answer is with slab piers. If the home is built directly on a concrete slab that sits directly on the ground, its the best option. The slab sinks and pulls on the walls. The easiest way to notice a problem is by looking at the baseboard or show molding at the base of the wall. In the "before" picture, you can see that the baseboard has a gap under it. That is a sign that the floor is settling. Slab piers are installed every few feet in a home and have a great chance of raising the floor back to level.