Foundation Jack Installation: Putting Solid Support Back Under a Settling, Sunken Floor

It usually traces back to the soil and the support system under your home. Across the Piedmont around Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and the Triangle, clay soils swell in wet seasons and shrink in dry ones, and that repeated shrinking and swelling cycle can settle or shift the original support posts and piers under the crawl space. Once a support drops, the beam it held loses its footing and the floor above sinks. Along the coast near Wilmington, Brunswick County, and Leland, a high water table and saturated, sandy soils can soften the ground beneath the supports while the same moisture rots the wood beams and joists. On slopes around Asheville, runoff and heavy rainfall can undermine hillside supports, and in the Sandhills around Fayetteville, loose sandy soil can let a support settle. The result feels the same from upstairs, but we identify the specific cause under your home during the inspection.

The first job of a foundation jack is to support the framing and stop the floor from settling further, which is the priority for protecting the structure. Because the posts adjust, the crew can often raise them gradually to recover some of the height the floor has lost. How much correction is realistic depends on the framing, the finishes upstairs, and how far the floor has dropped, and the lift is done in measured stages so it does not crack the drywall, tile, and trim above. We tell homeowners what is achievable for their specific floor.

Not on their own. A jack supports the framing above it, so that framing has to be sound for the support to hold. If a beam or joist is rotted, cracked, or broken, it often needs repair or sister reinforcement first, because a jack pushing on wood that cannot carry the load is not a lasting fix. In the Carolinas, especially in damp coastal crawl spaces around Wilmington and in homes where moisture has sat under the floor, rot and support failure often go together. That is why our inspection looks at both the supports and the condition of the wood, and why we may recommend framing repair alongside the jacks so the support has something sound to carry.

They solve related but different problems. Foundation jacks are adjustable steel support posts installed inside the crawl space to carry the wood beams and joists under your floor, which is the right approach when the interior floor supports have settled or weakened. Foundation piers, such as push piers or helical piers, are driven deep into the ground to support and stabilize the perimeter foundation itself when it has settled. Sometimes a home needs one, sometimes the other, and sometimes both. During the free inspection we determine whether the movement is in the interior floor supports, the perimeter foundation, or both, and recommend the method that fits.

Jacks support the floor again, but they do not change the conditions that caused the support to fail in the first place. In saturated coastal soils around Wilmington and Leland or in Piedmont clay that drains slowly around Charlotte, ongoing moisture is frequently part of the story, both because it softens the ground under the supports and because it rots the wood above them. To keep the floor from settling again, the moisture that drove the problem often needs to be managed too, which is why we frequently pair jacks with drainage, a vapor barrier, or encapsulation. We confirm what your crawl space needs during the inspection.

The price for your home depends on how many jacks and footings your floor requires, whether any beams or joists need repair first, and access under the home. You receive a written estimate after a free inspection.

See framing repair price ranges by service