Foundation raising in Lomita CA - a lift planned around what holds your house up

Lifting a foundation in the LA metro area usually costs about $35,000 to $40,000. That's what the market tends to charge, not our price, and your own figure depends on the size of the house, what it sits on and whether the old foundation can be extended or has to be rebuilt. Your written estimate gives you our number for your house.

Yes, but it's harder than raising a house on a crawlspace or basement. A slab home is either lifted together with its slab or cut free of it, with a new raised floor built afterward, and lifting with the slab intact is technically hard and often not workable. Which way to go is the first thing to settle, because it changes the whole plan.

It comes down to whether the whole house has to go up or one slab has sunk, and I can usually tell on site. Mudjacking, pumping grout under a sunken slab, and foam injection both raise the slab but leave the cause in place. If the ground settled from poor drainage, a plumbing leak or rotting organic material underneath, the slab may settle again with either method.

Water in the ground is the usual culprit. Clay soil can swell as it soaks up water from sprinklers, rain or a leak, with enough force to lift buildings and crack concrete, so a house on clay can move as the ground gets wet and dries out. That's why we check where the water runs around your house before we plan any new foundation.

The Public Works District Office in Lomita processes building permits, and its main line is (310) 534-3760. Its list names building, remodeling, demolishing and moving structures but doesn't name foundation raising, so call and ask what your job requires before plans are drawn. The county says LA County Public Works issues permits for property in unincorporated LA County and another office may handle property outside the county's jurisdiction, and if your plans go to plan check, reviewers look them over against safety, building and environmental standards.

The state licensing board has a building moving and demolition classification, and a contractor in that class raises, lowers and moves structures, foundations included. That class leaves out repairs to the parts of the house that stay in place, so ask which license covers any repair work on your job. We're fully licensed and insured, and I'll tell you how each part of the work is covered.