Foundation Repair Before & After Photos

Gary and Leslie have a poured basement, and one of their exterior retaining walls had a crack. After reading many stories about Ayers, they decided to call in. After an Ayers System Design Specialist came out to assess the problem, the crew at Ayers decided on the GeoLock Wall Anchor System.

Our GeoLock Wall Anchoring System is installed into the wall and engineered to stop wall failure immediately. This system utilizes a plate buried in the ground outside of the cracked wall. A steel rod is drilled through a one-inch hole in the wall and connected to the anchor plate. A plate is then placed on the interior side and bolted in place. The plate is secured to the rod and tightened until there is pressure on the wall. The pressure created by the wall anchor will pull the wall back into place, stopping it from cracking and permanently stabilizing it!

The crew took a trip out to Gobles, MI to repair the foundation on this family cottage. Walls start to bow when the pressure of expanding soil becomes too much and pushes them inward. One of the telltale signs of a bowing foundation is cracking that resembles stair steps appearing on the basement walls. These walls were being pushed so much that two different foundation solutions were needed: our Geo-Lock Wall Anchors and PowerBrace system. The PowerBrace system is pictured in the after photo.

In total, 12 different PowerBrace beams were used to push the crumbling walls back to an upright position. Since the system can be tightened whenever it's needed, the walls will continue to improve and straighten until they return back to their original position. The owners of this cottage can now rest easy when they visit, well easier because family trips are stressful enough without crumbling walls.

Our customer called when the horizontal crack in her basement wall started getting bigger. There was no water coming in, but the wall was starting to bow. We used PowerBraces to stabilize the wall, and by tightening them each year we can hopefully straighten the wall over time.

Sal worried the cracked walls in his basement would cave in and he wasn't sure what to do. After researching his options, he called Ayers to learn about our foundation solutions. Our team of experts evaluated and decided he needed the Supportworks GeoLock wall anchor system. Wall anchors are heavy-duty, galvanized earth anchors placed in solid soil with a steel rod connecting the ground anchor to an inside anchor on the basement wall, providing clamping pressure to stabilize the wall. Sal is glad he called Ayers!

Gary has been dealing with water intrusion in his Custer, Michigan basement from the 1800s for almost three decades. During heavy rainfall, the water primarily seeps in from the opposite direction of the sump pump. The basement has a fieldstone foundation, and Gary has grown weary of using the shop vac to deal with all the water. Despite attempting to fix it with hydraulic cement, he finally decided it was time for a professional fix. He knew Ayers Basement Systems would be the right company for the job. After our initial inspection, our crew determined shotcrete would be the perfect solution for him. 

Shotcrete is a sprayable concrete that stabilizes basement walls and fills any holes that let in unwanted water or air. It’s applied through a high-pressure hose. The extra air propelling the concrete out is what makes the shotcrete able to be applied to vertical and sloping surfaces.  

Gary was overjoyed that he no longer had to endure the laborious task of pulling out the shop vac every time it rained. He was deeply impressed with the exceptional quality of work we delivered and the utmost professionalism exhibited by everyone at the company.