Foundation repair causing stress on house frame?

Question

I am under contract for a house that has a bowing foundation wall. This is a walk in basement house and it's on a hill. So there is about a foot of foundation uncovered (out of the ground) on the back side and not covered on the front.

A foundation company is recommending powerbraces (fancy I beams) to take the weight of the soil off the wall and evenly distribute it to the floor joists and the rest of the house. I feel like this will cause stress and shifting on the house frame as the only thing that it is secured by is the foundation. A third of the foundation is not even in ground so the only thing supporting it, is itself.

Can someone explain why this is a normal and recommended practice? I couldn't find any research about it online

Tom Harkins · Answer

@Seth Otto V Based on what you’ve stated, I’d say your best bet is to have it assessed by an engineer. You can have them recommend/design the repair rather than just hearing it from a contractor.

Pat L. · Answer

Seen a few of these with substantial vertical steel beam installed supporting the floor joists & double as a rim joist. It's supposed to work, but we have always declined buying them yet they still sell for 20% less than comps. We did grab a foreclosure once that then had the entire wall under the kitchen collapsed inward so we sold it as is. The buyers rebuilt the wall with cement block jacked up the floor joists & its still OK 12 years later, (we still hold the note).

However, it appears that foam spray is NOT a good solution !!!

Michael McVinney · Answer

Pictures would be good!  There could be many causes of this sort of thing. Based on your description, taking weight off the foundation doesn’t seem like it would fix the problem.  I would definitely have an engineer take a look.

Waylon Zook · Answer

@Seth Otto V

Do you have any pics?

Foundation repair causing stress on house frame?

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