Foundation Repair in Wollongong

What foundation-repair in Wollongong actually involves

CSIRO puts the causes of footing movement in a short list: water and what it does to clay, erosion of granular soils, tree roots drawing moisture, leaking services and roof plumbing, overwatering, and compaction of the ground when a building is first loaded. Where a service failure is the cause, it says the remedy is to repair the failure. That is why two quotes for one house can propose different work: they may assume different causes.

Cause before method

Ask what has been ruled out before anything is fixed: a leaking pipe, a blocked gutter, a downpipe that ends at the wall, a tree close to it. Ask who decided the cause, and whether that person stands apart from whoever will do the work. Cracking from local shear or erosion, CSIRO says, usually keeps developing until its cause is remedied, so a repair that leaves the cause alone may not last.

Wollongong's ground is mapped in units, and the state's reports for them read differently. The report for the unit along the foot of the Illawarra Escarpment lists reactive subsoils among its limitations and says potential movements may be set off by poor drainage. Its report for the Fairy Meadow unit calls those soils generally stable and lists flood hazard, low wet bearing strength and high seasonal watertables instead. Both come from a 1990 survey at a coarse scale: they say what kind of ground to expect across an area, never what your footings sit on.

Foundation Repair in Wollongong — common questions

How do I know if a crack is the footing?

You may not, and it is worth asking. CSIRO says most cracking in masonry walls is a cosmetic nuisance, and cracking that keeps developing points to a cause that needs remedying. Note when you first saw it and whether it grows.

Is foundation repair the same as underpinning?

Underpinning is one kind, defined in NSW as building a new support structure under a wall, column or footings. Other repairs deal with the cause: a leak, the drainage, or the ground around the footing.

What does foundation repair cost?

We set no price. The costs page shows only the band that three businesses publish for underpinning by resin injection, and gives no figure for other repairs.