If your floors sag, bounce, or slope, the fix isn't a new floor — it's what's holding it up. We install adjustable steel support jacks on concrete footings, sister rotted joists, and replace failing girders where they've given out.
A licensed local crew — usually out in 24 to 72 hours. Written scope, fixed price, no pressure.
Structural support work in Concord is almost entirely a downtown pre-war problem with occasional subdivision exceptions. The 1900s through 1930s brick pier houses on Union St, Cabarrus Ave, Church St, and Warren C Coleman Blvd were built on hand-dug footings that predate the modern 12-inch minimum depth requirement, and a hundred years of freeze-thaw cycles and red clay expansion under those piers has caused differential settlement that shows up as sagging floors, sticking interior doors, and hairline cracks running up perimeter chimney walls. The subdivisions off Poplar Tent Rd and Kannapolis Pkwy — Christenbury, Moss Creek, Cox Mill, Robinson Church — were built on proper poured concrete footings that generally hold, so structural support calls in the tract belt are less common. When they come up in a subdivision it is usually a long-span girder that has taken on more load than the original engineering anticipated, often because of a later addition or a heavy remodel that added kitchen island load without addressing the framing below.
Two Novembers ago I got a call on a 1912 house on Church St downtown. The owner had noticed her upstairs bedroom door had started sticking on the frame over the previous six months, then a hairline crack appeared in the plaster along the interior wall running down from the ceiling. When I got under the crawl I found what I expected: two piers in the center of the house had settled almost an inch and a half over the previous decade, the girder above them was bearing on shim stacks that had rotted through, and the load was being carried by the two adjacent piers which were both showing hairline cracking in their original 1912 mortar. Another six to twelve months and one of those adjacent piers would have failed under the redistributed load and the whole system would have cascaded. We shored the girder with Grip-Tite adjustable steel posts, rebuilt both failed piers on new 12-inch Cabarrus code-depth footings, and passed inspection first visit. The bedroom door stopped sticking within a month and the plaster crack has not moved since.
What follows is what actually happens on Concord structural support jobs, why Cabarrus County inspectors are stricter than Mecklenburg on pier footing depth, and how we sequence supplemental support around any moisture work that is part of the same scope. Free on-site inspection anywhere in Concord, Harrisburg, Kannapolis, and out to Huntersville across the county line.
Every Concord structural support job starts with a full pier and girder survey before I write a scope. On a downtown pre-war house I go pier by pier with a probe, a straight edge, and a laser reference to check for movement, mortar cracking, shim rot, and girder bearing condition. On a typical 1900s-1930s Union St or Cabarrus Ave house it is normal to find two or three piers that have settled a half-inch to an inch and a half. The girder above compensates by bowing until somebody adds shims. Cedar shims from the 1970s and early 1980s are past their engineered life — they come apart under a screwdriver on nearly every downtown inspection I do. That is not a repair you defer.
The fix on a settled pier is shore-and-rebuild. First we transfer the load off the settled pier by installing Grip-Tite adjustable steel posts or Tiger SmartJacks under the girder on either side. Then we demo the existing pier down to the original footing — if there is a footing at all. On pre-1930s downtown houses the pier is often just bearing on grade or on a shallow field-stone footing that does not meet modern code. In that case we excavate to 12-inch Cabarrus code depth on undisturbed soil, pour a new footing with 3,500 PSI mix (20-inch by 20-inch by 12-inch minimum), and rebuild the pier with either standard 8-by-8-by-16 CMU or reclaimed period brick where historic preservation review favors matching original material. New shims are solid steel plate, not cedar. Cabarrus County building permit and inspection required.
Supplemental support (as opposed to pier repair) is a different scope. Long-span girders on subdivision jobs — Christenbury bonus rooms, Cox Mill great rooms with unusually wide open floor plans — sometimes need supplemental steel posts mid-span to address deflection that has appeared over 20 years. Or a homeowner has added a heavy kitchen remodel with an oversized island and quartz countertops that has loaded the joist system beyond the original design. In those cases we spec Grip-Tite adjustable steel posts on new footings mid-span, sized by a structural engineer if the load calculation warrants it. Cabarrus building permit required. Inspection is on the completed installation.
Cabarrus County inspectors are notably strict on pier footing depth and bearing condition. Twelve inches minimum, on undisturbed soil, and they will fail a footing that was poured on fill or that shortcut the depth requirement. This is a real practical difference from Mecklenburg where inspector strictness on residential pier footings varies more. In Cabarrus we plan for it. Every new footing gets photographed at excavation showing the soil condition, the depth measurement against a tape or ruler, and the footprint dimensions. Those photos go to the inspector before the pour so the inspection is a formality. This protocol has passed every footing inspection we have submitted in Cabarrus County over the past five years.
Sequencing around moisture work matters. Any structural support work happens before the encapsulation. Pier demo and rebuild generates wood dust, mortar debris, and concrete chunks that will trash a fresh 20-mil liner if the encapsulation is already in place. On a downtown Concord job with both scopes we run three to five days of structural work followed by two to three days of encapsulation. Total on site is usually a week to ten days depending on the number of piers and the complexity of any girder work.
Interim shoring is Grip-Tite adjustable steel posts (rated to 20,000 pounds working load) or Tiger SmartJacks (rated to 30,000 pounds), both with adjustable heads that let us dial in the transfer load without over-lifting the girder above. Grip-Tite is our default because the load capacity handles typical residential girder transfer with margin and the post footprint is small enough to work around in tight downtown crawls. Tiger SmartJack when the load calculation warrants the higher capacity or when the post is going to remain as permanent supplemental support rather than temporary shoring.
New pier footings are 20-inch by 20-inch by 12-inch minimum depth, poured on undisturbed soil with 3,500 PSI mix. Cabarrus inspectors will fail a footing that is not to depth or that was poured on fill. We photograph every excavation before the pour showing depth and soil condition. Pier reconstruction is either standard 8-by-8-by-16 CMU set in Type S mortar or reclaimed period brick set in the same mortar where the Historic Preservation Commission favors matching original material for a downtown property visible from the street. Shims between pier top and girder are solid 1/4-inch steel plate stacked to close the gap — not cedar, not composite, not any material with a decay timeline.
Supplemental steel posts for permanent installation are Grip-Tite adjustable steel with a threaded head for periodic adjustment as the house continues to settle or the load conditions change. Base plate is either welded steel or a manufacturer-supplied pier cap seated on a new footing. Head plate connects to the girder with structural screws or through-bolts depending on girder material. Cabarrus County building permit required for any permanent supplemental support installation.
Sistering lumber for joist reinforcement is pressure-treated Southern Yellow Pine #2 grade minimum, matching the dimensional depth of the existing joist. Fasteners are 1/2-inch galvanized carriage bolts at 16-inch staggered spacing with GRK RSS or Simpson SDS structural screws as supplemental fastening. Sister extends a minimum of 4 feet into sound joist beyond any damaged section.
Yes — Concord is a regular structural support route. Free on-site inspection anywhere in Concord, fixed written quote before we touch anything.
Concord structural support is dominated by pier settlement on downtown pre-war houses (Union St, Cabarrus Ave, Church St, Warren C Coleman Blvd) where hand-dug 1900s footings that predate the 12-inch depth requirement have moved after a century of freeze-thaw. Cabarrus County inspectors are notably strict on new footing depth and undisturbed-soil bearing — they will fail a shortcut pour, which is a real practical difference from Mecklenburg.
28025, 28027. All Cabarrus County addresses covered.
Three tells and one subtle one. First, interior floor sags — a spot where a level shows deflection, or where furniture legs tilt, or where a marble rolls consistently one direction. Second, interior doors sticking on frames after they never used to, especially doors that stick along the top or one side rather than uniformly. Third, hairline cracks in plaster or drywall running diagonally from ceilings or door frames, especially if they line up with an interior wall that sits over a girder line. The subtle one is a hairline crack in the mortar between courses on a perimeter chimney or brick veneer that lines up with an interior floor sag. If any of these are happening, get an inspection. Structural work caught early is a one to two day job per pier. Caught late it becomes a girder replacement or a joist sistering scope.
A building permit filed through the Cabarrus County Building Inspections office in downtown Concord. The permit needs a site sketch showing the pier or support locations, the proposed footing dimensions and depth, the pier reconstruction material and method, and the fastener schedule for any lumber sistering. For supplemental steel posts the permit needs the post specification (make, model, load rating) and the base plate detail. Inspection is on the framing before it is covered. Cabarrus inspectors will fail a footing that was not poured to 12-inch depth on undisturbed soil. We photograph every excavation before the pour and submit to the inspector — that protocol has passed every inspection over the past five years.
It is not a policy difference so much as a practical difference in how the two counties enforce the residential code. Both require 12-inch minimum footing depth on undisturbed soil per the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code. In practice Mecklenburg inspectors on residential pier work vary in how strictly they enforce the depth and undisturbed-soil requirements. Cabarrus inspectors are consistent — they measure the depth on inspection and they will fail a pour that was on fill or that came up short. It is not adversarial, it is just consistent enforcement. We plan for it and we submit inspector-quality photos of every excavation before the pour, and inspections pass on first visit.
Before. Every time. Pier demo, footing pour, sistering, and any girder work generates wood dust, mortar debris, and concrete chunks that will trash a fresh 20-mil liner. We sequence structural work first, get any Cabarrus County permits and inspections passed, then bring the encapsulation crew in behind them for the ground cover, wall termination, and dehumidifier. On a typical Concord job with both scopes we run three to five days of structural work followed by two to three days of encapsulation. Total on site is usually a week to ten days depending on the complexity of the structural scope.
Free on-site Concord inspection. Fixed written quote. Call (980) 227-1769 or book below.