Bowed block walls, cracked foundations and wet basements in Lockport and along the Niagara County line, fixed from the inside by a family-owned, fully insured crew.
One of our I-beam installs was a block-wall basement in Lockport. Block foundations are built from individual blocks, and every mortar joint is a cold joint. Over time, soil pressure and shifting ground can crack a wall along those joints. We’ve seen seven-foot walls cracked halfway up with each side leaning 5 to 10 degrees, which is a lot of movement for a wall that’s holding up a house.
The fix is steel. We break the floor out to reach the footer, stand a 4-inch webbed I-beam on the footer, lag-bolt the top into the floor joists, and re-pour the concrete around the base. The engineer and the town decide how many beams the wall needs before we start. Once it’s braced, the wall stops moving.
Walls usually don’t bow on their own. Water-soaked soil pushes harder than dry soil, and a wall that has been holding back wet ground for years is the one that starts to lean. That’s why a lot of structural jobs also need drain tile or yard drainage: bracing stops the movement, and drainage takes away the pressure that caused it.
We’ll tell you whether your house needs bracing, drainage, or both, and we won’t sell you the one you don’t need.
We work in Lockport and the surrounding towns along the Niagara and Erie county line, and we’re regularly in Clarence, Lancaster and Alden (see our Buffalo-area page). Not sure you’re in range? Call 716-471-8389 and ask.
Yes. I-beam bracing, mortar repair and bearing pads are all done from inside the basement. There’s no excavation and no rebuilt foundation.
An engineer reviews the wall and the town approves the plan before we install anything. They set the number and spacing of the beams, and we coordinate that process for you.
The job of bracing is to stop the wall from moving any further, permanently. Once it’s braced, it won’t lean another inch.
It can be. Bouncy or sloping floors and doors that stick often point to a wooden support post in the basement that has rotted or sunk. We replace those with rebar-reinforced concrete bearing pads and properly support the beam above.
Both. Crack repair, interior drain tile, sump pumps, yard drainage and waterproofing paint are all available in Lockport.
Foundation movement never gets cheaper to fix. Call 716-471-8389 or send us a message for an honest structural assessment.
