Job Stories

This homeowner in Arnold, MD was in need of 6 helical piers to help support their deck and pool area.    Helical piers are a type of steel pier that can permanently stabilize your home. The first section of the pier is advanced into the ground and has one or more helix-shaped blades welded to the shaft, allowing it to be mechanically screwed into the soil.  These piers can be installed from the exterior or interior of your home and provide an opportunity to lift the home back towards its original position.

This walkway started to become unsafe for the homeowners and their guests. With PolyLevel, we can lift concrete slabs back to their original location with a polymer foam that fills the voids underneath. 

A helical pier is another type of steel pier that can be used to permanently stabilize your home. They're named for their unique design; the first section that is advanced into the ground has one or more helix-shaped blades welded to the shaft, allowing it to be mechanically screwed into the soil. They can be used the bring the home back toward its original position or to stabilize a lighter structure that has settled, such as a deck or stoop.  For this project, four helical piers were being used in the foundation for an elevator shaft due to test results indicating that the soils were incapable of supporting a foundation with a design bearing pressure of 1000psf.  This addition to the homeowner's home would be stable for life with the helical piers installed before there is a problem!  

Life is crazy at times with careers, family, pets, and house upkeep. Many of us go through the week and all of a sudden it's the weekend again! Time goes by fast and things change consistently. Sometimes, as homeowners a little crack turns into "it's not a big deal". The problem is, through our busy lives, we start to notice these little cracks less until they become larger cracks and "how long has that been there?" cracks.  And now the "it's not a big deal" becomes "this might be a big deal". After time, your home is slowly settling more, being affected more and more from weather and humidity. Sometimes, these things we can't control slowly affect our homes starting with small cracks, the start of sagging or bowing, or even sinking of porches or stairs. The picture below shows an example of a tiny gap that has been created over time. This small space on the porch is actually created by a BIG problem in the crawlspace! For this home in Fallston, MD,  helical piers were needed to stabilize and bring the home back to its original position. The piers' round shaft design has a high resistance to bending and is made of galvanized steel, which will not rust. These piers reach greater depths than other options to support your home, which means they extend past troubled soils. With helical piers, you can permanently stabilize your home, regardless of the weight of the structure.  So if you have any concerns about your "it's not a big deal" foundation cracks or gaps, give us a call to schedule your free estimate. If you need a little support help, we can stabilize it before it becomes a big deal!   

This homeowner in Middle River, MD wanted a quick, cheaper solution underneath their home. We highly recommended a full encapsulation to prevent moisture from affecting the crawlspace and the floor joists. With the full encapsulation, we also recommended a sump pump and a SaniDry Sedona dehumidifier to maintain a controlled space under the home. Because of financial restrictions, we installed drainage matting underneath this home and repaired a girder until this homeowner can have a full encapsulation done.   

Over the course of time, soil tends to settle and compress. This can dramatically impact concrete slab surfaces such as porches. This porch settled about 2 inches. This settlement caused the pillars holding the roof above the porch to also droop. tearing up the concrete and removing it would have reeked havoc on this home. A skim coat of concrete to level the porch would not have been a solution for the pillars that were dropping along with the porch floor. DryZone using PolyLevel to lift both the concrete slab porch floor AND the porch pillars was the best and most effective solution for this homeowner. You can see the finished product made this homeowner very happy.

This homeowner in Joppa, MD gave us a call to repair their concrete driveway instead of replacing all of it. With our NexusPro crack repair, we were able to seal all the cracks with our flexible, UV resistant sealant that stands up to harsh weather conditions! Now this homeowner can have a peace of mind about their concrete!    

Homeowners contacted DryZone with their concerns about their driveway. It was sinking as much as 4 inches in some areas. The sinking was most evident when you looked at the lip on the edge of the garage entrance and also the contact point with the adjacent walkway to the front door.   Team DryZone's crew of concrete experts were able to tackle the project in just a few hours. Team DryZone used PolyLevel to lift the sinking slab and then applied NexusPro to all of the joints and cracks which had been caused by the sinking. Now this homeowner is able to use their driveway unhindered. The tripping hazard along the front walkway is also remedied by the driveway being lifted and repaired.

Sometimes, you don't know how big of a problem you have until DryZone comes to inspect your home! With an outside inspection, we found signs of mortar cracking on the chimney itself. This home's chimney was adding weight to the floor in the living room with no support in the basement below. This issue, if left unresolved, would be a more expensive problem later on. We installed 2 SmartJackXTs and an 8 foot supplemental beam to distribute the weight evenly on the rest of the home. With these SmartJacks and the supplemental beam, this homeowner has no need to worry about their foundation of their home! 

This home has a basement and a connected crawl space. When out inspector entered the home it dry at the time but you can see obvious signs that water has been present in the past. As well they had open vents and a dirt crawl space that was connected to the basement. Because of this they had high moisture readings. The open vents are like leaving a window open in your home - all year round! Encapsulating the crawl space, adding BrightWall and a WaterGuard System will help to create a dry space for the homeowner to use as storage and more.