Foundation repair in Richmond, CA - a house bolted down and braced for the next quake
Cracked foundation, sticky doors or a house that's never been bolted down? We look underneath first and fix only what your house needs.
- Fully licensed and insured.
- Free quotes on site.
- We reply within 1 business day.
Does your Richmond house need foundation repair or a retrofit?
Foundation repair in Richmond, CA covers fixing a damaged foundation and the framing that sits on it, and it often includes a seismic retrofit, which bolts your house to its foundation and braces the crawl space so the house holds up better when the ground shakes.
Most calls start with a crack someone spotted, or with a home inspector asking whether the house is bolted down. The price and the schedule both turn on what's under your floor, mostly the size of the cripple wall, the short wood wall between the foundation and your floor, and how much rot or foundation damage turns up, while the permit sets when work can start. Sometimes the honest answer is that your foundation is fine, and I'll tell you that too.
How can you tell your foundation needs work?
Cracks in the foundation
Hairline cracks in old concrete are common and often just shrinkage, but a crack that's wide, keeps growing or has one side higher than the other usually means part of the foundation is moving. Left alone, a moving crack lets water in and puts more strain on the framing above it.
Soft or rotted sill wood
Poke the board that sits on top of the foundation in your crawl space, and if a screwdriver sinks in, that wood has rotted, usually from water getting in for a long time. Rotted wood can't hold bolts, so it has to be replaced before any retrofit, and the rot spreads the longer it stays wet.
No bolts along the sill
Look along that same board for bolt heads or steel plates every few feet. Plenty of older houses have none and just sit on the foundation by their own weight, and nothing about that shows until the ground shakes, which is why it's worth checking now.
How we do foundation repair and seismic retrofits
We start by getting under your house to look at the framing and the foundation, because what we find there shapes the whole job, and after my years framing houses, old framing and I get along fine. If there's rot, we cut it out and replace it, and if the foundation is cracked or crumbling where bolts need to go, we repair that next. Then comes the retrofit, and I'll explain plainly what each part fixes. Bolts tie the house to its foundation, because a cripple wall that isn't well anchored can let the house slide off in an earthquake, and plywood bracing stiffens that wall, because a poorly braced one can collapse under the house. Bolting alone on a house with a cripple wall only does half the job, so we don't recommend it. We finish by cleaning out the crawl space and the yard.
A lot of houses with a tired crawl space also have an old brick chimney that's seen better days, so chimney repair is often worth a look while we're there. If your foundation or chimney is brick and the mortar between the bricks has gone sandy, tuckpointing, raking out the worn joints and filling them with fresh mortar, may be all it needs.
Bolting and bracing a cripple wall
This suits raised houses with a short framed wall around the crawl space, which is common under older homes. It's the full retrofit, and it's the one we steer people toward whenever that wall is there.
Bolting a house with no cripple wall
This suits houses where the floor framing sits right on the foundation with no short wall in between. The bolts do most of the work here, so the job is usually smaller.
Rot and foundation repair first
This suits houses where water has rotted the sill or the foundation is cracked where the bolts would go. We fix those spots first, since a retrofit is only as strong as the wood and concrete the hardware grabs.
Get a written estimate for your foundation or retrofit
We reply within one business day to set up a visit. I come out, look under the house with you and send a written estimate that's free, with no pressure and no obligation.
(510) 369-4799- Based in
- Richmond, CA 94804
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 8 AM–10 PM, Sat–Sun: 7 AM–9 PM
What happens when you call us about your foundation in Richmond?
From your first call to a cleaned-up crawl space, here's how a foundation job runs with us and who you'll be dealing with at each step.
Call or send the form
Call (510) 369-4799 or send the form, and we get back to you to set up a visit. Pick a time you can be home, since I'll want to show you what I find.
Walk the job with me
I come out, look over the foundation and crawl space with you, then send a written estimate. It lays out what we found, what we'd fix and what each part does, so you can see where the price comes from.
Permit, then the work
If you go ahead, we take care of any permit the job needs and set up the city inspections. I'm on site running our crew, and if opening things up turns up more rot, we stop and show you before going further.
Cleanup and walk-through
We clean up the crawl space and the yard before we call the job done. Then I walk you through what we did and where the new hardware is.
Why Richmond homeowners call Stonework Richmond Concrete and Masonry for foundation work
The owner comes out and stays
I'm the one who gets under the house and walks the job with you, and I'm on site with our own crew until it's done. Plenty of the houses I crawl under around Richmond are older homes on their original framing, and you want the person who saw it running the work.
Framing first, masonry since 2013
I framed houses for years before a mason got me hooked on brick and stone, and I started this business in 2013. Half of foundation work is wood, so that carpenter background earns its keep every time I'm under a floor.
Licensed in California and insured
California licenses home improvement contractors through its Contractors State License Board, and we're fully licensed and insured. That matters when a crew is working under your floor and you don't want the risk landing on you.
Foundation work goes best when it starts with a careful look underneath and stops at what your house actually needs, so ask us for a visit and I'll come take that look.
Foundation repair, chimneys and old brick in Richmond
The City of Richmond requires a building permit to build, alter or repair any building or structure, and foundation repair or a retrofit counts as repairing or altering your house, so plan on a permit unless the city's list of exempt work says otherwise. The city issues permits only to property owners or their authorized agents and to licensed contractors, and a contractor has to register first with a state license card, a workers' comp insurance certificate and a current Richmond business license. We pull the permit as the licensed contractor and set up the city inspections, and if we're not sure what the city wants on a job, we ask before we start instead of guessing. If you'd like to ask something yourself, the city's Building Division takes permit questions by phone and at permittechs@ci.richmond.ca.us.
A lot of the houses we get under here are older raised homes with a crawl space, original framing and often a brick chimney up the side, so we check all three on the same visit. We see the same kind of houses on jobs in El Cerrito and San Pablo, and we work across the cities around Richmond, so if yours isn't on our list, just ask.
Questions about foundation repair in Richmond
Does foundation repair in Richmond, CA need a permit?
Plan on one, since the city requires a building permit to repair or alter any building unless the work is on its exemption list. When your job needs a permit, we pull it and set up the inspections.
What decides the cost of a seismic retrofit in Richmond?
The cost comes down to the size of your cripple wall, the materials and labor, any rot or damage in the wood framing, and whether the foundation needs repair first. That's why the price follows what a look under the house finds, and why I'd rather send you a written estimate after seeing it than guess over the phone.
Can a seismic retrofit be done without an engineer?
Often yes, because there's a standard retrofit plan that lets a contractor or owner do the work without an engineer on most common house setups, and it's made to be submitted for a permit. That plan assumes someone has already found that the house needs a retrofit, so the look under your house comes first, and I'll tell you then whether yours looks like a fit.
How do I keep water from damaging my foundation?
Keep the ground sloping away from the house, send rainwater well away from the foundation and keep heavily watered plants back from the walls. On clay soil that matters because clay swells and shrinks only when its water content changes, and it gives the most trouble where wet seasons alternate with dry ones.
What should a home improvement contract in California include?
California requires a home improvement contract to include information, notices and disclosures that protect you as the homeowner. Any change to the contract has to be in writing, readable and easy to understand, and it has to tell you about your right to cancel, so look for that notice before you sign a change.
How long does a foundation retrofit take?
I can give you a real answer once I've been under your house, because rot in the framing or a foundation that needs repair first stretches a job more than anything else. The permit also sets when we can start, so we plan the work around it.
Related masonry work for older Richmond houses
Chimney repair
An old brick chimney can crack or loosen at the roofline over time, and it's worth having checked by the same crew already looking at your foundation.
Tuckpointing
When the mortar in a brick wall, chimney or foundation turns sandy and falls out, fresh joints keep water out and keep the bricks from working loose.
Cities we work in around Richmond
Stonework Richmond Concrete and Masonry is based in Richmond, California, and does foundation work in the cities around it, from Berkeley to Vallejo. These 12 cities have their own page here, Richmond included, but they aren't the only places we go.
Richmond, CA
Get your crawl space looked at
Have your address and a quick note on any cracks or past repairs ready when you call (510) 369-4799, so I know where to start looking.