This De Soto homeowner had cracks running through the drywall all over
the inside of her house. The cracks were the symptom. The cause was
outside: her home sits on a hill, and heavy rain was moving the soil
under and around the foundation. Patching drywall without fixing the
drainage would have meant patching it again next spring.
So we started outside. We excavated around the foundation, made repairs
and waterproofed it, installed french drains, and regraded the
landscaping to carry water away from the house. Then we rebuilt the
deck — the old one had rotted out and the homeowner had already torn it
down. We set the new one on diamond pier footings instead of poured
concrete, which suits that soil and that slope far better.
The budget was tight, so we self-performed nearly all of it: excavation,
drainage, landscaping, the deck, and the interior work. Inside, we
repaired cracks throughout, took down the popcorn ceilings, and
retextured. Running our own crew across all of those trades is what kept
the cost reasonable on a scope this size.
I'm proud of this crew. Moving between excavation, drainage, carpentry,
and finish work inside one job takes real range, and they solved the
problems that came up during the landscaping phase without losing a
step. The homeowner got the whole thing handled — cause and symptom —
at a price that reflects us doing the work ourselves instead of marking
up four subcontractors.
Before
The Work
Finished
