Foundation raising in Rio Rancho NM - steady support under a house that settled
Cracks in the walls, doors that stick or a floor that slopes? We set piers under the settled side so your house has solid support.
- Fully licensed and insured.
- Free quotes on site.
- We reply within 1 business day.
What does foundation raising involve for a Rio Rancho house?
Foundation raising in Rio Rancho is how we fix a house that has sunk on one side or cracked from uneven settling. We set steel helical piers, long screw-shaped posts, down beside the foundation so the house rests on new support.
Most people call after they've watched a crack get longer or a door start to drag, and they want to know if it's serious. Sometimes it's just a surface crack, and I'll tell you that, because I'd rather say you don't need us than sell you piers. When it is settling, the price comes down to how many piers your house needs, how deep they go, how much digging that takes and whether a slab is in the way. The schedule mostly turns on the permit and on getting utility lines marked. At the estimate I walk the house with you and go over what it needs before you decide.
How do you know if your foundation is settling?
Cracks that keep getting longer
A crack in a wall, a corner of the slab or the brick that grows over a season usually means one part of the house is settling faster than the rest. Left alone, it tends to open wider and let water in, and the repair gets bigger.
Doors and windows that stick
When a door that used to close fine starts dragging or won't latch, or a window binds halfway, the house moving under the frame has usually pulled it out of square. Planing the door only hides it until the frame shifts again and the door sticks again.
Floors that slope or dip
A marble that rolls to one wall or a gap opening under the baseboard often points to a sunken section of foundation on that side. The longer it keeps settling, the more the walls and trim above it crack to keep up.
How we do foundation raising on your house
First we make sure the utility lines are marked through 811, the call-before-you-dig number, because nobody should put a shovel in your yard until they are. Then we dig out at the foundation where the house has settled and work to the pier maker's install guide from there. We turn each steel pier down until it bears on firm ground, fasten a bracket to the foundation and move the weight of the house onto the piers. We raise what the house will safely give back, fill the holes, pack the soil and clean up. If you'd rather just patch the cracks to save money, I understand the thinking, but I'll steer you to support first, because a patch on a wall that's still moving usually cracks again.
Pier work often runs into the concrete around a house. When a pier has to go under a walk, patio or driveway, we use concrete cutting to take out only what's in the way, and if the old driveway has to come out, we can replace it through our concrete driveway building work. The pier maker's guide also finishes with crack repair and waterproofing, so I'll be clear at the estimate about whether those are in your quote.
Support for one settled area
This suits a house where the cracks and sticking doors all point to one corner or one side, because piers go only where the settling is and less of the yard gets opened. It keeps the job smaller when the rest of the foundation is sound.
Support along more of the house
When cracking runs the length of a wall or shows up on more than one side, piers usually need to go along that whole stretch so the house is carried evenly. It's a bigger job, but propping one corner of a house that's moving everywhere just moves the problem.
Get a free on-site estimate for foundation raising
Send the form and we reply within 1 business day to set a time. I come out myself, look at the house and give you a free quote on site, no pressure, no obligation.
(505) 271-3053- Based in
- Rio Rancho, NM 87124
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 6 AM–10 PM, Sat–Sun: 8 AM–10 PM
What happens when you call about foundation raising in Rio Rancho?
Here's how it goes from your first call to the day we pack up, and who you'll be dealing with at each step.
Call or send the form
Call (505) 271-3053 or use the form, and tell us what you're seeing at the house. We'll set a time for me to come out.
I walk the job myself
I look at the cracks, try your doors and measure where the house has dropped. You'll know what it needs, roughly where piers would go and what's driving the price before you decide anything.
We handle the permit work
Once you say go, we take care of any permit work the job needs. That way you aren't the one chasing paperwork or scheduling inspections.
We set piers, then walk it
Our own crew digs, sets the piers and backfills, and I'm usually there running the job. Before we pack up, we walk the finished job with you.
Why Rio Rancho homeowners call Elite Rio Rancho Concrete Construction for foundation raising
One person from estimate to finish
I'm the one who looks at your cracks and writes the estimate, and I run the job with our own crew doing the work. If something looks different once the ground is open, you're talking to someone who already knows your house.
In the concrete trade since 2017
I learned this work next to older finishers and by fixing my own mistakes, and we've done it full time since 2017. The biggest lesson was that what's under the concrete matters more than what's on top, and on a settled house that's the whole job.
Licensed the way Rio Rancho requires
Inside Rio Rancho city limits, a contractor needs a New Mexico license and an active city business license to work. We're fully licensed and insured, so you aren't hiring someone the city wouldn't let on the job.
On a job like this, the support under the house is what you're paying for, so that's where I spend most of the estimate. Set up a visit and I'll walk it with you.
Foundation raising and the concrete around it in Rio Rancho
The City of Rio Rancho requires a permit whenever a building is altered or repaired, along with other kinds of work, and raising a settled foundation is a repair to the house, so plan on a permit being part of the job. Before we start, we check with the permit office that covers your address, and if your job needs a permit, we take care of the application and the inspections. We're based in Rio Rancho and work in the cities around it, so we do that same check on foundation jobs in Corrales and Bernalillo.
Soil guidance for the whole Southwest says ground in this part of the country can collapse and settle two to three feet, and that it's common. That's broad regional guidance, not a reading of your lot, but it's why I look at where water from the roof and yard ends up, along with where the cracks are, before I say where piers go.
Questions about foundation raising in Rio Rancho
(505) 271-3053Yes, you can usually stay in the house while we work. One pier maker's manual says helical piles go in without vibration and a building can keep running with little bother to the people in it, so most people don't move out. You'll hear the machine and see the crew in the yard.
We open the ground along the foundation, either as one long trench or as a hole at each pier spot, the two ways the pier maker's guide lays out. A trench opens more of the yard than separate holes, so ask me which one your house needs, and plan on that area being dug up until we backfill.
There's no fair number until I've seen the house, because the biggest part of the price is how many piers it takes and how deep they go. Depth is the part nobody knows exactly until the piers start going in, since it depends on where firm ground sits under your house. You get your number after I've walked the house with you.
Use the license lookup that the state's Construction Industries page points to, and make sure the license shows as valid. Also ask which classification they hold, because a New Mexico license only covers the kind of work its classification names.
Plan on one, because the city's permit rule covers repairs to a building, and foundation work is a repair. We take care of it for you, as I covered above, so you don't have to deal with the city yourself.
Open and close every door and window and make sure each one works right, since a sticking frame is often the first sign a house has moved. The pier maker's guide includes that same check, and we do it before we call the job done, but it's a test you can repeat yourself any time.
Related concrete work around a settled house
Concrete cutting
A saw cut gives straight, clean edges where a slab has to come out, so the patch that goes back in later lines up with what's left.
Concrete driveway building
A driveway that dropped along with the house is usually beyond patching, and a new pour on a packed base gives it a better start.
Service areas for foundation raising near Rio Rancho
Elite Rio Rancho Concrete Construction is based in Rio Rancho, NM, and the five areas below each have their own page, including North Valley and Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. If you don't see your city listed, ask us.
Rio Rancho, NM
Book a look at your settled foundation
Before I come out, jot down where you see cracks and which doors or windows stick, so we can check those spots first.