Cedar City UT is known for subsidence areas, places where the ground can move. The front of our duplex probably dropped about 1/2 an inch causing cracks at drywall seams especially in the garages, as well as some doors being harder to close, that sort of thing.
So we’re fixing it. The contractor is drilling 15 holes 43 feet deep with piers in them. The piers are attached to the foundation. Hydraulic jacks are fastened to the piers and they lift the house back where it should be. The jacks then come off and the piers are bolted to the foundation. If anything ever needs to be readjusted, they just put the jacks back on.
Our contractor, Clay Bulloch, has been doing subsidence work for 28 years all over Utah. The geo-engineer says he’s never seen a problem after it was done. The house across the street is several feet lower than us and has it much worse. A big crack goes down the ceiling from the front door to the back and a concrete pad in one garage has moved at least two inches from the house frame. (All of this may have been triggered by a water main break in the street in front of both houses.)
More photos as events warrant!