Real answers on foundation repair in Madison Metro: honest costs, how to diagnose common issues, what a professional job includes, and how to vet a local provider.
Helical piers usually run $1,500 to $2,500 per pier in the Madison metro. Most residential projects use 4 to 12 piers, putting total project cost in the $10,000 to $30,000 range. The spread comes from depth-to-bearing: Verona homes over com
A code-compliant egress window in a Wisconsin basement usually runs $3,000 to $5,500 installed. That covers the concrete cut, the steel window well, the window itself, backfill, exterior trim, and our pulled building permit (common permit f
A full interior drain-tile and sump system in Madison usually runs $3,500 to $12,000 depending on basement perimeter, priced at $70 to $110 per linear foot. Exterior excavation waterproofing usually runs $8,000 to $18,000 and only fits abou
Foundation repair in the Madison metro usually runs from $400 per crack on the low end (polyurethane injection on a single vertical crack) to $30,000 or more on the high end (whole-house helical pier underpinning paired with interior drain
A bowing basement wall in the Madison metro usually runs $500 to $800 per carbon-fiber strap (5 to 8 straps for a moderate bow) or $700 to $1,200 per helical wall anchor. We see most projects come in between $2,500 and $9,600 for stabilizat
Polyurethane injection usually runs $400 to $600 per crack and is the right fix for water intrusion through a non-structural crack. Epoxy injection usually runs $500 to $800 per crack and is the right fix when the concrete itself has failed
For roughly 80 percent of Madison-area homes, interior drain tile (common range $3,500 to $12,000) is the right waterproofing method. For the remaining 20 percent (foundation walls with damage that needs exposure, or landscapes already bein
Carbon-fiber straps usually run $500 to $800 each and are the right fix for walls bowing under 2 inches. Wall anchors usually run $700 to $1,200 each and handle 2 to 4 inches of deflection while actively pulling the wall back. Full block-wa
Both methods underpin a settling foundation by reaching competent soil below the active clay zone. Helical piers (usually $1,500 to $2,500 per pier) torque into the soil under hydraulic power and work on any home, including lightweight ranc
Polyurethane lifting wins on durability in Wisconsin's freeze-thaw climate, because the foam weighs 2 pounds per cubic foot against mudjacking slurry at 100-plus pounds per cubic foot. The light foam does not re-load the underlying soil. Mu
Wisconsin doesn't license foundation repair contractors, which puts the vetting burden on the homeowner. The eight documents that filter the field: Certificate of Insurance ($1M+ general liability), workers' compensation certificate, Dane C
EverDry Waterproofing is a national franchise chain (headquartered in Ohio, with Wisconsin operations historically serving the Milwaukee and Madison metros) that specializes in exterior excavation waterproofing with a proprietary dimple-boa
An interior French drain (the modern industry name is interior drain tile, the SPS 321 code term is subsoil drain) usually runs $70 to $110 per linear foot in the Madison metro, with most full-perimeter installs landing between $3,500 and $
Standard sump pump installation in Madison usually runs $450 to $900 for a pump-only swap in an existing pit. Adding a battery backup brings the common range to $1,200 to $2,500 total. Most Dane County homes need a 1/2 HP primary, not the 1
Foundation crack repair in Madison is a one-day, low-disruption process. We attach surface ports along the crack, inject either polyurethane (common range $400 to $600 per crack) or epoxy (common range $500 to $800 per crack) under pressure
A vapor barrier blocks water vapor (humid air) from passing through a basement wall or slab. Madison homes need one when the basement stays above 60 percent humidity year-round, when efflorescence appears on the walls, or when the basement
Wisconsin SPS 321.03(2) requires every below-grade sleeping room to have an emergency escape and rescue opening. The four numbers do not bend: 5.7 square feet net clear opening, 24-inch minimum height, 20-inch minimum width, 44-inch maximum
Crawl space encapsulation in Wisconsin usually runs $5,000 to $14,000 for a standard home, working out to roughly $5 to $9 per square foot of crawl space floor. Structural repairs (joist sistering, beam replacement, helical piers for settle
In the Madison metro, basement flooding almost always traces to one of seven causes, and clay-soil hydrostatic pressure drives most of them. The seven: a failed or undersized sump pump, lot grading that slopes toward the foundation, downspo
Most basement floor cracks in Madison homes are shrinkage cracks from the original concrete cure and are cosmetic. Worry when the crack is wider than 1/8 inch, when one side sits higher than the other (any vertical offset), when the crack i
Foundation cracks sort into three patterns that mean three different things. Horizontal cracks across a block or poured wall (especially at the 4-to-5-foot height) signal bowing under clay-soil pressure and need urgent attention. Stair-step
Most hairline cracks in Madison-area foundation walls (anything under 1/16 inch wide) are cosmetic shrinkage cracks from the original concrete cure and need no repair. The hairlines that do matter are wet ones (polyurethane injection, commo
A bowing basement wall in the Madison metro shows up as inward deflection at the middle of the wall (usually 4-5 feet above the floor), often paired with horizontal cracking along the bond beam and stair-step cracks in block walls. The earl
Madison basements get wet because Dane County clay swells about 30 percent when saturated and shrinks the same when it dries. That cycle generates lateral pressure against your foundation, opens preferential flow paths during dry months, an
A basement that only leaks after heavy rain has a specific entry point that the rain pressure pushes water through. The eight most common in Wisconsin: foundation cracks, slab-wall cold joints, pour-break cold joints, block mortar joints, w
Foundation settlement in Madison-area homes shows up upstairs long before it shows up in the basement. The earliest signs are sticky doors, hairline drywall cracks above doorframes, and a single tile that has cracked across the kitchen floo
Madison's residential soil is mostly glacial till deposited by the Green Bay Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet between 14,000 and 30,000 years ago. The clay fraction of that till swells roughly 30 percent when saturated and shrinks the same
Wisconsin doesn't license foundation contractors at the state level. The Department of Safety and Professional Services licenses electricians, plumbers, HVAC, and new-home dwelling contractors, but foundation repair (along with waterproofin
A general home inspector spends 20 to 40 minutes on the foundation; a foundation specialist spends 60 to 90 minutes and produces a written repair quote. The specialty inspection catches what the general inspection misses: deflection measure
Every foundation contractor in the Madison metro markets a "lifetime warranty," and the word does less legal work than homeowners assume. What matters: the warranty document's five operative clauses, the entity that backs the warranty (cont
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