United Structural Systems
Foundation Repair
When the ground moves, the house tells you.
Cracks in brick, cracks in the slab, doors that won't shut — we find out what the foundation is actually doing before anything gets repaired.
What foundation repair actually means
Most people hear "foundation repair" and picture a crew jacking up their whole house. In reality, the first job is diagnosis. Middle Tennessee sits on expansive clay soils that swell when they're wet and shrink when they dry. That movement is what causes the vast majority of the cracks and uneven floors I see.
What I look at first
- The pattern of the cracking — stair-step cracks, vertical cracks, and cracks at the corners all mean different things
- Floor elevations, room by room, to see whether the house is out of level and by how much
- Drainage: where roof water goes, whether the grade falls away from the house, and how the gutters are performing
- The crawl space or basement, because that's where the story usually is
Common fixes
Depending on what we find, the answer might be as simple as moving water away from the house. If the foundation genuinely needs support, we use piers driven or helical piers installed to a depth where the soil is stable — not just at the surface.
What I won't do
I won't sell you a repair you don't need. If your crack is cosmetic and stable, I'll tell you to monitor it and spend your money somewhere else. That's the whole point of this site.
Questions Marty hears a lot
See something that doesn't look right?
Send Marty a picture.
Crack in the brick? Uneven floor? Water in the crawl space? Sinking concrete? Send a few photos and tell Marty what you're seeing. No pressure — just a straight answer from someone local.
