Foundation settling - how much is too much & Ram Jack

[Mike Fortin]

Hi,

I have a Ram Jack consultant who came to our house and after taking measurements (using some argon-based tool located in various corners of the house) told us that one corner of our house shows siginficant settlement, with a 3 inches difference from the highest corner of the house (which happens to be the opposite corner). The house is around 12 yards x 18 yards, made of wood on top of concrete foundation wall & slab and was built in 1926.

The settlement is clearly concentrated around the quarter of the house in that corner and is not linear along the length/width of the house. That corner happens to be where our chimney is. He mentioned that it is likely the chimney's weight pulling down the corner.

He offered as a solution to put piles in that corner that would stabilize/slowly raise it.

Does anyone have experience with work done by Ram Jack ? Is it any good ?

Is it overkill for the house ?

Thanks,

Mike

[Dom D'Agostino]

There are many reasons for foundation movement or foundation failure.
There are also many methods to correct these issues.
Before investing in any vendor's repair solution, consult with a qualified engineer for specific repair advise, their fee may save you unnecessary expenses.

Dom.

[Jack Feldmann]

Get a second and possibly a third opinion, not telling them what the other guys said.
Why did they come out in the first place? Are you having issues?

[Mike Fortin]

Get a second and possibly a third opinion, not telling them what the other guys said.
Why did they come out in the first place? Are you having issues?

We felt the floors on the main floor were listing a tiny bit more compared to when we moved in a year ago. The house was built in an interesting way, with the walls on the main floor supporting the 2nd floor not being backed by posts underneath them in the basement. There's approximately a 1-2 feet distance between the location of the posts in the basement and where the walls in the main floor rest, which map pretty well to where the list start in the floor.

So we know some of the floor listing is due to that, but I decided to bring them to look at the foundations to see if that was playing a part as well.

[Chris Roth]

There are many reasons for foundation movement or foundation failure.
There are also many methods to correct these issues.
Before investing in any vendor's repair solution, consult with a qualified engineer for specific repair advise, their fee may save you unnecessary expenses.

Dom.


As Dom said, Consult a structural engineer. Works every time and you get a report with or how to correct the foundation issues. Yes, it will cost for the advice, but well worth it. Make sure the engineer is certified.