Guide
Foundation inspections in Boston
An inspection turns a worry into measurements. There are two kinds of people who do them, and it helps to know which you are getting.
Two routes
Repair company or structural engineer
Repair company
Inspects and then proposes its own repair
A foundation repair company sends someone to look at the house, measure the movement and write up what the company would do and for how much. This is what you get when you call the number on this site.
It suits the common cases: a settled corner, a bowing wall, a sagging floor, a porch or chimney that has shifted.
Structural engineer
Reports and sells no repair
A professional engineer registered in Massachusetts examines the building for a fee and gives a written opinion. The engineer has nothing to gain from the size of the job.
It suits disputes, sales, buildings on wood piles, a condominium association that needs one report all owners trust, and any case where two companies have proposed different repairs.
During the visit
What gets measured
- Floor heights across each room, to map where the low points are.
- Crack widths and offsets, inside and out, with photographs.
- Plumb of basement walls, chimneys and porch posts.
- The basement structure: beam, posts, footings, sill and joist ends.
- Water: staining, damp readings, gutters, downspouts and the slope of the ground.
- For pile-supported buildings, an engineer may ask for a test pit beside the foundation to see the pile tops and compare their level with the groundwater.
Expect an hour or more for a house. Whoever comes will need to get into the basement and see every outside wall that can be reached.
Be ready
What to have on hand
Gather your own evidence first: dated photos of the cracks, notes on when doors began to stick, anything a previous owner or home inspector told you. If you marked crack ends in pencil, say when.
Earlier work matters. In Boston you can search an address for past building permits through the city's historical permit records, which may show an old underpinning or structural repair. For buildings in the filled districts, bring what the Groundwater Trust's records say about the foundation.
Afterwards
What to ask for in writing
- What was found, with the measurements taken
- What the inspector believes is causing it
- A sketch showing where each repair would go
- Whether the aim is to stop movement or to lift
- The price, what it includes and what would change it
- Who will prepare stamped plans and apply for the permit
- How long the work takes and what you must move or vacate
- The warranty terms, as a document you can read beforehand
Questions about inspections
Do I need an engineer before I call a repair company?
Not usually. For most houses the company's inspection comes first, and an engineer is brought in to design or stamp the repair for the permit. Hire your own engineer at the outset if the building is large, shared, on wood piles or part of a sale.
Is a home inspection for a purchase the same thing?
No. A licensed home inspector looks at the whole house in a few hours and will point out signs of movement, then recommend that a specialist examine them. The specialist's visit is the foundation inspection.
What if the inspection finds nothing wrong?
Then you have a baseline. Keep the measurements. If the same cracks are measured again in a year or two and have not changed, you will know the house is stable.
Foundation repair in Boston
Have a Boston foundation company take a look
Give the street, the kind of building and what has changed. The company settles a day to visit, and afterwards you receive its written account of the cause and what it would charge.
Ready to have it looked at?
Phone and say what you have seen. The firm on the other end is a Boston-area foundation repair company, independent of this website, and it can book a visit to your home.
Call (617) 555-0111You speak with an independent company, not with this website. See the referral disclosure.