Basement foundation settling beyond basic D.I.Y. point?

Rockbiter
by Rockbiter
20 year old house, when built dirt had to be brought in. Washout has happened and there are cracks happening and sinking a lot. I try to keep up on this the best I can but I don't want to do something that will worsen it. The main part is my room in the basement because you can tell it the worst due to carpeting that is going to crap and more bugs. The Window in this room was installed with a piss poor drip cap that I repaired thankfully with caulk and Sugru. (So you know I am trying to work from outside in repair, I also did quicklok concrete on the exterior foundation cracking as well.) I hope the pictures do it justice. I am currently hoping a caulk I put down works on the expansion joint. I also was going to fix the baseboard to actually lie against the floor evenly and not have a gap at one end where I had to stuff steel wool in the spot.
an inch needs to be cut off of the baseboard but that still leaves a pertruding inch of the slab difference (hard to explain)
took baseboard trim off to repair
the slab's and their sunken space, sorry, if need a better view of the dip let me know. I wasn't sure if I should also saw this board to a relief cut since all it is doing is warping due to settlement, gap height is 1 1/4"
caulked this, but this is more of an image of the wall with the window which caused drafts and I just filled with "Great Stuff"
the pole at bottom of stairs. All control joints have cracks
bottom of stairs, this pic makes it look straight but this nail is tilted because of the wall settling. Bottom of stairs floor board. I don't mess with this one because it might be a specific set up for fire code.
  5 answers
  • Rockbiter Rockbiter on Jun 28, 2015
    another spot is a major support pole (not sure if it's sunken status really shows in the pic)
  • Hope Williams Hope Williams on Jun 29, 2015
    Past the DIY point. You need foundation expert and your county extension agent for the soil erosion. You have one problem, (soil) causing your home to literally shift on/off its foundation. If you don't get this fixed and soon, you are going to have other structural and cosmetic issues very soon!
    • See 6 previous
    • Hope Williams Hope Williams on Jun 29, 2015
      Also, if this is considered a natural disaster, that would go to homeowners insurance policy!
  • Lee Ann Lee Ann on Jun 29, 2015
    We had this happen. The dirt under the house was washed away from a pipe leaking under the house. We have cracks in walls and ceilings. The house slopes toward the back. Luckily the foundation is good. We had people come in and put cement under the house. They put in as much as we could afford. It still slopes not as bad. You can't fix it from above you have to get cement under it. We had crickets and mice getting in. Since we fixed it we don't have crickets and finally got rid of the mice.
    • Rockbiter Rockbiter on Jun 29, 2015
      @Lee Ann If you needed help then I can't do it alone, so I have to sadly P.A.P. but I agree that cement under/ mudjacking is the correct fix. If the job is done diy, it is by myself. Good to know what others in the same situation had to do, they know the best for it
  • Bonny McDaniel Bonny McDaniel on Jun 29, 2015
    You do need a professional contractor to fix this. There is a method where they pump in an expanding filler that will jack up the house to where it needs to be and fills in the void under the house. You might need to get a home improvement loan to cover the cost but, if you don't do it, you won't have a liveable house.
    • See 1 previous
    • Bonny McDaniel Bonny McDaniel on Jun 29, 2015
      @Rockbiter I was watching a flip show that had them retrofitting a house for earthquake protection and it used a slightly different way of attaching the foundation to the the frame of the house...but it was just as expensive and that house hadn't really shifted...it was just cracked and needed reinforcement. The mud jack stuff, I think, is the only answer. The 'mud' is actually a mixture of different materials that expand and it takes a real expert to get the right amount for the lift. If your parents won't do it for the house, it might leave the house inhabitable. So sorry you have to have this happen.
  • 9530106 9530106 on Jun 29, 2015
    My son lives in Aurora, and they had a similar problem with their family room. They had to have the room mudjacked(as well as their entry steps) after they had put down new carpet, no less. They also had to have extensive landscape-drainage work done outside. Good luck!