When you have cracked, bowing basement walls, you need foundation solutions you can count on to address the problem and restore your foundation’s integrity. For many homeowners, wall anchor repair offers the right balance of affordability, convenience, and reliability to give them peace of mind and their walls a new lease on life. Wall anchors are an effective, permanent fix for bowing walls, especially when combined with professional basement waterproofing that helps mitigate the damage’s root cause. While often the best option, wall anchors aren’t your only option, so let’s take a look at the other solutions commonly chosen and why they just don’t stack up.
What Basement Wall Anchors Are
Wall anchors are one of the most effective foundation solutions for better wall alignment and support because they prevent additional bowing and move the walls back into plumb. American-made steel plates are placed in excavated holes up to ten feet from the walls of your foundation. Corresponding steel anchor plates are placed inside your foundation walls, and a threaded rod connects the two.
As this rod is tightened over time by your foundation professional, the walls are pulled back into alignment, supported by the more stable soil outside the backfill surrounding your foundation. Since the pressure exerted by the backfill area around your home is being redirected to stable soil, when the ground becomes saturated and heavy, it’s working against other heavy, saturated soil and not your foundation.
Why Homeowners Love Their Wall Anchors
- Fast – Most wall anchor installations take no more than a day to complete. This minimizes the disruption to your family’s life at home.
- Cost Effective – Wall anchor repair can cost less than some other foundation solutions, making it a better dollar-for-dollar investment in your property’s long-term health.
- Proven Track Record – Wall anchors are already protecting the houses of your western Pennsylvania neighbors. Professionally installed wall anchors made with strong steel from right here in the United States have stood the test of time, and they can do it for you too.
- Low Impact on Appearance – The small holes excavated for the exterior anchor plates quickly return to their original appearance, leaving no trace. The interior anchor plates can be easily covered with pictures or artwork while maintaining easy access for periodic adjustments if needed.
How Other Foundation Solutions Stack Up
While wall anchor repair offers time-tested results that repair bowed or leaning walls and prevent further damage, there are other foundation repair options available. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular ones on the market, when they may be a good choice, and when they won’t.
Carbon Fiber or Kevlar Straps
Designed for walls with only a slight bow to them, these strong, wide straps are meant to reinforce the wall in much the same way you would use an adhesive bandage over a cut. The wall is sanded smooth and a strong adhesive adheres the straps to the wall vertically. Steel angles are attached at the top and bottom to further secure the straps.
While touted as permanent foundation solutions, that’s only true as long as conditions in the soil outside the wall remain constant. The problem is that if those conditions were constant, you likely wouldn’t be dealing with bowed walls in the first place. These straps may support the wall against pressure from surrounding backfill, but as the soil dries and cavities form, they can leave larger voids for the next time. Straps don’t restore your wall to plumb, they just keep it from getting worse, and they may not work at all if your wall bows more than two inches. In addition, there’s no way to adjust them to account for changes in soil over time.
Braces and Beams
Interior brace and beam systems push outward against your walls as they redistribute the force of the soil to the home’s other structural elements. Floor brackets are installed at the base of the wall in set intervals to hold beams flat against the wall’s surface. At the top of the beams, brackets are secured to floor joists that feature a torque system running to the top of the beam. As the torque system is tightened, it pushes the beam and the wall behind it back toward the plumb.
Braces and Beams are often more expensive than wall anchor repair because they use far more steel to provide the same level of force. While they are permanent solutions that allow for periodic adjustments, the interior structures are far larger and harder to hide, leaving you a “ribbed” basement to decorate around.
Remove and Replace
The most expensive foundation solution involves excavating the area around the bowed wall, replacing and repairing the wall directly, and then adding new, properly compacted, and graded backfill. If done properly, this is a permanent foundation fix that leaves you with a good-as-new basement.
Along with the significant cost increase, this method takes more time and destroys your yard around the affected area. It can take weeks for permits, utility markings, scheduling work crews, digging, repairing, and finally refilling the area around your foundation. In addition, there’s no ability to make adjustments for your foundation’s future or changing soil conditions around your new basement wall.
Get Your Free Wall Anchor Repair Estimate
There’s no obligation to get an experienced foundation professional to take a look at your bowed, leaning, or separating basement wall. Schedule your free home inspection and they’ll set a time to take a look at any existing damage, help identify the risk factors your foundation is facing, and tailor a written estimate. They’ll talk to you about your foundation repair options, interior and exterior drainage recommendations, and waterproofing suggestions for long-term mitigation and protection.
Once you’ve made an informed decision, we handle everything from there while you get the peace of mind that comes with having experts on the job and working to protect and restore your home with proven foundation solutions. Schedule your free wall anchor repair inspection with A.M. Wall Anchor & Waterproofing today.
