Foundation Repair in IN, including Fort Wayne, South Bend & Gary.
Foundation Repair

Bowing & Buckling Foundation Walls In Northern Indiana

Diagram of a repaired foundation wall

Foundation wall anchors can repair many bowing wall problems. Soil anchors are placed in the ground outside.

Steel rods attached to soil anchors extend through the foundation wall and wall plates. Wall plates distribute clamping pressure. Tightening nuts on the threaded ends of the rods stabilizes the wall for a permanent solution.

The Problem:

Your foundation walls are bowing, buckling or are showing signs of inward movement.

Telltale Signs:

How to Fix It:

Install Supportworks' Geo-Lock™ Wall Anchors along the bowing walls, and use the system's clamping pressure to stabilize and restore the wall.

When space issues prohibit wall anchor installation, we recommend installing the PowerBrace™ Wall System.

foundation wall repair quote in Schererville

We can straighten your bowing, buckling foundation walls! Our solutions are warrantied, and most can be done in a day!

Call us for a free foundation wall repair quote today! We serve South Bend, Fort Wayne, Gary, and many nearby areas in Indiana.

Signs of bowing foundation walls

Foundation walls move inward primarily due to expansive soils and hydrostatic pressure on the walls from outside. However, foundation walls may also crack due to many other outside causes, including foundation settlement. Our foundation experts will accurately identify the cause of your home's foundation problems.

Below are images of several foundations that are showing damage from hydrostatic pressure and expansive soils outside the structure.

(Click each photo to enlarge.)

A cracked foundation wall near a window in a Griffith home Foundation wall separating from the floor in Columbia City home A buckling foundation wall in a Chesterton home. Rusted, corroded i-beams found with a failing foundation in a Plymouth home.
A diagonal stair-step crack found along a foundation wall in a Highland home A diagonal stair step crack along the foundation wall of a Hammond home A foundation showing severe inward buckling along the windows in a Huntington home. Severe foundation damage from a long crack in a bucking wall of a Hobart home.

What Causes Cracked & Bowing Foundation Walls?

wet and dry clay soil samples, with the dry one shrunken and cracked

How Much Does Moisture Affect Clay Soils?

These two clay samples started out exactly the same in size, weight, and composition. The sample on the right was allowed to dry out, while the one on the left we kept moist.

If a small sample of clay can gain this much volume when it gets wet, just imagine how dramatic the changes are in the soil around your home!

The soils around your home can put enormous pressure on foundation walls. The amount of pressure they exert depends on four factors:

  1. The type of soil around the foundation
  2. The amount of moisture in the soil
  3. How far underground the foundation is
  4. The temperature conditions

There's constant pressure on your foundation walls from the outside, but the only thing holding up your foundation wall is the wall itself. Hydrostatic pressure, expansive clay soil, and frost can all exert enough pressure to cause walls to lean or even collapse.

Gutters and downspouts can also contribute significantly to foundation problems.

If roof runoff is not directed away from your foundation, the soil around the foundation will become heavier and more expansive as it's saturated with water.

If you would like a free foundation wall repair quote for your home, call or e-mail us today!

Carbon Fiber Straps:

Graphic of a carbon fiber foundation wall repair.

As with any repair method, your professional foundation contractor will be able to analyze your unique situation and recommend a solution that will bring you peace of mind for years to come.

The CarbonArmor® Wall Reinforcing System gives foundation repair specialists in Indiana another valuable tool in their arsenal of repair techniques —one that offers some notable advantages. But before delving into these positive attributes, let's get an idea of what the repair technique involves.

The first step in the repair is to prepare the wall where each carbon fiber strap will be installed. For the repair to work well on concrete or concrete block walls, the wall should be clean. Based on the condition of the wall and the pressure that's being exerted on the wall, the contractor will determine how many wall straps are required.

After preparing the interior of the foundation wall where the straps will be installed, the contractor will cut the straps to a length that matches the full height of the wall, and saturates both the strap and the repair area with high-strength epoxy resin. After adhering the wetted strap into place on the wall, the contractor applies a final topcoat of epoxy resin to the strap. The resulting repair contours tightly to the wall, making it very unobtrusive compared to other repair techniques such as installing steel I-beams. Once the repair is complete, it can be concealed by paint or drywall.

Installing Foundation Wall Anchors

At Foundation Supportworks, Inc., we recommend the Geo-Lock™ Wall Anchor System, to stabilize failing foundation walls. Our contractors follow these six steps when installing our warrantied wall anchor system:

Auguring a hole in the earth for a foundation repair in Warsaw

Digging Holes For the Earth Anchors

Before the installation, earth anchor locations will be determined to maximize system effectiveness. When the foundation contractors arrive, their proposal will show the location of each earth anchor in the yard outside your house.

At the beginning of each earth anchor installation, sod is carefully removed from your lawn and placed aside for later. A sheet is laid down to help protect your lawn and landscaping, and an earth anchor hole is made using a power auger.


Coring a one inch hole in a foundation wall to allow for the earth anchor rod to pass through.

Preparing The Foundation Wall

Once the hole has been excavated, we will core a small hole through your basement wall. Then, a steel anchor rod will be driven through the wall and soil, extending through a hole in the center of the earth anchor.

One way our wall anchor system is superior to other methods is that the hole created in the foundation wall is very small - 1" in diameter. Other methods may require a large hole or section of concrete block to be removed during installation.


Steel earth anchor assembly installation in Merrillville.

Attaching The Earth Anchor

After securing the end of each anchor rod to its earth anchor, these assemblies are buried in the ground, using soil removed earlier. To resist corrosion damage, each of our earth anchor systems is designed with galvanized steel.

Each of the Geo-Lock™ Earth Anchors we install includes a 25-year warranty against manufacturing defects, as well as our own in-house quality and performance warranty.


Mounting a foundation wall plate for an earth anchor installation in Portage.

Mounting The Wall Plate

Once the earth anchors have been installed, our foundation repair experts will mount a wall plate over each anchor rod end that protrudes from the basement wall. Screwing a large nut to the threaded end of the anchor rod secures each wall plate and stabilizes the wall as the nut is tightened.

If your wall anchors are being installed in a finished basement, be sure to ask us about our Hide-A-Way™ Wall Anchor Covers, which will help you conveniently conceal your wall anchor access points.


Restoring the landscaping by replacing removed sod on the ground for a La Porte home.

Restoring The Landscaping

At Foundation Supportworks, Inc., we take pride in leaving each job clean, neat, and free of damage to existing landscaping. As part of our cleanup process, we fill holes completely with dirt saved earlier and tamp filled areas to ensure that depressed areas will not be created as the soils settle over time.

We will also replace all sod, carefully grooming it with a rake to help it to blend in with surrounding grass for a seamless landscaping restoration.
Attempting to straighten a bowed foundation wall by straightening a wall anchor system in a Michigan City home.

Tightening Wall Anchors

Geo-Lock™ Wall Anchors do more than just stop the inward movement of your foundation walls -- they also provide the opportunity to straighten your walls over time.

Eventually, your walls can be significantly repaired, or even returned completely to their original position. This is a powerful way to restore value to your home and return your home to looking solid, stable, and attractive -- both for you and for prospective home buyers.

When Foundation Wall Anchors Won't Work

In some cases, a wall anchor system can't be used to repair a bowing wall because the yard outside the house isn't accessible.

When we at Foundation Supportworks, Inc. encounter this kind of problem, we suggest that you install our PowerBrace™ Foundation Wall System.

Graphic render of an installed i-beam system home.

Saving a wall with the PowerBrace™ system. This innovative system stabilizes bowing walls and can even straighten walls over time.

The PowerBrace™ System

The PowerBrace™ is a patented foundation wall repair system designed to stabilize failing basement walls and also allow for potential straightening over time.

This product is a great option when access to the yard outside of the home is not possible and bowing, buckling wall problems need to be solved.

The PowerBrace™ is an I-beam system that has several advantages over traditional "old school" systems.

This includes its rust-resistant zinc coating and a design that makes it possible not only to stabilize bowing walls, but also to straighten these walls over a period of time.

More about The Powerbrace™ System.

What NOT To Do

A foundation repair is a big job -- something you definitely only want to do once! When you're repairing your foundation, beware of expensive options that will not actually fix your problem -- and watch out for quick solutions that just don't work. Here are two "fixes" that we at Foundation Supportworks, Inc. will NOT recommend:

diagram and illustration of a total foundation replacement, showing the jacked up home and the excavated earth.

Wasting time and money with total foundation replacement.

This extreme repair option damages the yard and requires the house to be placed on temporary supports. It's also expensive and time-consuming.

Total Foundation Replacement:

To undertake a job like this, you have to excavate the entire perimeter of your foundation -- including gardens, shrubbery, sidewalks, and other landscaping.

Next, the house is jacked up, and the floor slab and foundation walls are removed. Finally, the foundation is rebuilt, the house is repositioned and the soil is replaced.

This solution is extremely disruptive, expensive, and time consuming. What's worse, it's not really addressing the issue.

Your foundation isn't the problem -- the soil is! When you're done building that brand new foundation, you can count on the soil to cause damage just like it did before.

If you're going to invest money in repairing your foundation, choose the solution that is not disruptive and will be warrantied for 25 years.

Looking For Foundation Wall Repair Experts In Indiana?

At Foundation Supportworks, Inc., we're proud to provide warrantied solutions that will permanently solve issues with bowing, buckling foundation walls.

We provide free, no-obligation foundation wall repair estimates to homeowners throughout our Indiana service area. Each estimate is made in person, on site, and is presented in writing.

Our service area includes Gary, South Bend, Fort Wayne, and nearby areas such as Valparaiso, Elkhart, Goshen, Mishawaka, Michigan City, La Porte, Crown Point. Call or e-mail us today!

Looking for a price? Get a no cost, no obligation free estimate.

  
Serving IN including the Greater Fort Wayne area
Our Indiana Service Area
Cities in Allen County, IN
Fort Wayne
Grabill
Harlan
Hoagland
Huntertown
Leo
Monroeville
New Haven
Spencerville
Woodburn
Yoder

Cities in Dekalb County, IN
Ashley
Auburn
Butler
Corunna
Garrett
Saint Joe
Waterloo

Cities in Elkhart County, IN
Bristol
Elkhart
Goshen
Middlebury
Millersburg
Nappanee
New Paris
Wakarusa

Cities in Fulton County, IN
Akron
Kewanna
Rochester

Cities in Huntington County, IN
Huntington
Roanoke

Cities in Jasper County, IN
Demotte
Fair Oaks
Rensselaer
Wheatfield

Cities in Kosciusko County, IN
Burket
Claypool
Etna Green
Leesburg
Mentone
Milford
North Webster
Pierceton
Silver Lake
Syracuse
Warsaw
Winona Lake

Cities in La Porte County, IN
Hanna
La Crosse
La Porte
Michigan City
Mill Creek
Rolling Prairie
Union Mills
Wanatah
Westville

Cities in Lagrange County, IN
Howe
Lagrange
Shipshewana
Topeka
Wolcottville

Cities in Lake County, IN
Cedar Lake
Crown Point
Gary
Griffith
Hammond
Highland
Hobart
Lake Station
Lowell
Merrillville
Munster
Saint John
Schererville

Cities in Marshall County, IN
Argos
Bourbon
Bremen
Culver
Plymouth
Tippecanoe

Cities in Miami County, IN
Macy

Cities in Newton County, IN
Brook
Lake Village
Morocco

Cities in Noble County, IN
Albion
Avilla
Cromwell
Kendallville
Kimmell
Laotto
Ligonier
Rome City
Wawaka

Cities in Porter County, IN
Chesterton
Hebron
Kouts
Portage
Valparaiso

Cities in Pulaski County, IN
Francesville
Medaryville
Monterey
Star City
Winamac

Cities in St Joseph County, IN
Granger
Lakeville
Mishawaka
New Carlisle
North Liberty
Notre Dame
Osceola
South Bend
Walkerton

Cities in Starke County, IN
Grovertown
Hamlet
Knox
North Judson
San Pierre

Cities in Steuben County, IN
Angola
Fremont
Hamilton
Hudson
Orland
Pleasant Lake

Cities in Wabash County, IN
North Manchester
Roann
Urbana

Cities in Wells County, IN
Markle
Ossian

Cities in Whitley County, IN
Churubusco
Columbia City
Larwill
South Whitley

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