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 Marvin comes from a specific place and it is not the place most people expect. It is not settling of the block-perimeter foundation, which is essentially bulletproof on the 2003-through-2016 custom stock — those foundations were engineered, inspected, and sit on properly poured perimeter footings. It is not sagging girders from undersized lumber, because the builders in the four flagship HOAs actually did use appropriate girder sizing for the spans. What Marvin structural work is almost entirely about is interior CMU pier settlement from shallow footing pads that never got inspected, and to a lesser extent joist sistering above HVAC condensate leaks that have rotted the subfloor in the mechanical bays. Both problems are fixable from inside the crawl with a bottle jack, some hardwood shims, adjustable steel posts, and a Union County structural permit — no exterior excavation, no foundation lift, no major disruption to the house above.
Last January I got a call from a 2004 Firethorne custom off Firethorne Country Club Dr, 5,800 SF three-story on a half-acre backing to the fifth fairway. Owner had noticed the great-room hardwood floor developing a specific dip along the north-south girder line — you could roll a marble from the fireplace toward the kitchen and watch it accelerate into a low spot in the middle of the room. He had been ignoring it for two years thinking it was seasonal wood movement, but had finally called a structural engineer who took one look and said the interior piers under the great room were moving. Called me for the remediation. I dropped into the crawl, laser-leveled the girder line, and confirmed exactly what the engineer had diagnosed: three CMU piers under the great room girder were leaning between a quarter-inch and half-inch off vertical, all sitting on 6-inch-deep footing pads the builder had poured 20 years earlier without a proper 12-inch code depth. Freeze-thaw cycling over 20 winters had walked them all in the same direction, and the girder was showing about three-quarters of an inch of deflection over the affected span. The floor dip was real and it was going to keep getting worse. Fix was a two-day shim, reset, and new-footing-pad job under each affected pier, filed as a Union County structural permit, followed by a joist sistering pass above the affected span to restore the girder line. Great-room floor came back to flat and has held for two years since.
Every Marvin structural repair starts with a full crawl walk-through, a laser-level reference off every girder line, and a Union County permit filing before we touch anything. First step is diagnostic. I go in with a laser level (Bosch GLL 3-330CG or equivalent), a moisture meter, and a screwdriver, and I check every interior CMU pier for lean, every girder for sag or deflection, every joist end at sill and pier bearing for rot or check, and every subfloor patch above an air handler or plumbing fixture for softness. On a typical 2003-through-2010 Marvin custom, expect to find two to four interior piers out of plumb by a quarter to a half inch, one or two sag points on the girder line above them, and possibly one or two soft subfloor spots above HVAC units.
Second step is the engineering call. For simple pier shim-and-reset situations where a pier is under a half-inch off plumb and the girder above shows less than three-quarters of an inch of deflection, we handle it under a Union County structural repair permit without an engineer stamp — the fix is essentially in-kind restoration of the original design. For anything more significant — piers over a half-inch off plumb, girder deflection over three-quarters of an inch, any visible cracking in the girder or joists, or any subfloor patch involving joist replacement rather than sistering — we bring in a structural engineer for a formal assessment and a stamped repair specification before we do anything. Union County requires engineering documentation for any repair scope beyond simple in-kind restoration.
Third step is the permit filing. Union County structural repair permits are filed through the Monroe office. Documentation includes the engineer's stamped specification if applicable, photos of the existing conditions, a scope description, and the property address. Turnaround is typically 5 to 10 business days for permit approval. Once approved we can schedule the work.
Fourth step is the pier shim-and-reset sequence. Support the girder above the affected pier with a temporary Tiger SmartJack or Grip-Tite adjustable steel post placed on a temporary spread footer (18-by-18-by-2-inch treated plywood pad), take the load off the failed pier with a hydraulic bottle jack, remove any shims already in place from previous amateur attempts, chip out the top course of the CMU pier if it has been damaged, insert graded hardwood shims (oak or hickory, never cedar or pine) down to the settled elevation, hydraulic-cement the shim in place. On piers where the footing depth is inadequate (the primary Marvin issue), we excavate below the pier to 12-inch depth on undisturbed soil, form and pour a new footing pad, let it cure 24 hours, then reset the pier on top of the new pad. Union County inspection sign-off on the new footing before we cover it.
Fifth step is joist sistering above the affected span. When the girder had sag or deflection that caused induced load on the joists above (visible checking, cupping, or soft spots), we sister the affected joists with matched-species 2x lumber (usually 2x10 or 2x12 southern yellow pine to match the existing joists), glued full-length with construction adhesive (Loctite PL Premium) and screwed with structural GRK RSS or Simpson SDS 1/4-by-4-inch lag screws on 12-inch staggered centers along the full length. Sister runs from bearing to bearing, minimum. Never nailed — nails split southern yellow pine and back out with seasonal wood movement.
Sixth step is HVAC-related subfloor patching if applicable. On soft subfloor above an air handler, we coordinate the HVAC contractor to replace the failed condensate safety pan (Rectorseal 32 composite pan) and add a float switch on the primary condensate line, remove the water-damaged subfloor section, sister the affected joists, and patch the subfloor with Advantech 3/4-inch tongue-and-groove OSB glued and screwed to the joists. Both trades complete before the encapsulation goes on top.
Seventh step is post-repair inspection and closeout. Union County structural inspection after the pier work, before we cover any footings. Final walk-through with the homeowner showing the completed work, before-and-after photos, warranty documentation, and permit sign-off documentation for the homeowner's records. Every Marvin structural repair I do gets a photo package the homeowner can hand to a future buyer or a home inspector.
Standard Marvin structural support hardware is Tiger SmartJack or Grip-Tite adjustable steel posts — 3-inch schedule 40 galvanized steel with a threaded adjustment sleeve, rated for the loads typical of a residential girder bearing. Used both as temporary support during pier work and as permanent replacement for any wood post showing decay, check, or excessive deflection. Adjustable range allows precise final elevation setting to match the girder line.
New footing pads are 24-by-24-by-12-inch poured concrete on undisturbed soil, minimum 12-inch depth per Union County code. Concrete is 3,500-psi minimum, poured from Quikrete bags mixed on site with a portable mixer or wheelbarrow. Rebar reinforcement (2 pieces of #4 rebar in each direction) placed 3 inches from the bottom of the pour. 24-hour cure minimum before setting a pier on top. Union County inspection required before covering.
Shim material is graded hardwood — oak or hickory, kiln-dried, cut to fit the specific gap between the CMU pier top and the girder underside. Never cedar or pine (soft, compresses under load). Set in hydraulic cement (Quikrete Hydraulic Water-Stop Cement) around the shim base, cured to hold the shim in place permanently.
Sistered joist lumber is matched-species 2x southern yellow pine (SPF grade No. 2 or better), sized to match the existing joist dimension — typically 2x10 or 2x12 in Marvin customs. Full-length runs bearing to bearing minimum, glued with Loctite PL Premium construction adhesive along the full contact face, screwed with Simpson SDS 1/4-by-4-inch structural lag screws on 12-inch staggered centers. Never nailed.
Subfloor patch material is Advantech 3/4-inch tongue-and-groove OSB where the span allows, glued with PL Premium and screwed to the joists with #10 by 2-1/2-inch deck screws on 8-inch centers along the edges and 12-inch centers in the field. Matches the density and moisture resistance of the original subfloor material used in Marvin custom construction.
HVAC-related coordination uses Rectorseal 32 composite condensate safety pans (sized to the specific air handler footprint) with an integrated float switch wired to kill the compressor if the primary condensate line clogs and water backs up. Installed by the homeowner's HVAC contractor as part of the coordinated scope, sequenced after our structural work and before the encapsulation.
Yes — Marvin is a regular structural support route. Free on-site inspection anywhere in Marvin, fixed written quote before we touch anything.
Marvin structural work is dominated by interior CMU pier shim-and-reset on shallow builder footings from 2003-2016 custom stock — a very different pattern from Cotswold or SouthPark where you are dealing with pre-war brick pier deterioration, or Ballantyne where the 1990s tract builders followed footing depth code more reliably than the 2000s Marvin custom shops did.
28173. All Union County addresses covered.
Almost certainly not a foundation problem — the block-perimeter foundations on Firethorne 2003-through-2016 custom stock are engineered, inspected, and essentially bulletproof. What you are almost certainly seeing is interior CMU pier settlement from shallow builder footings. Firethorne builders in that era commonly set interior piers on 6-inch-deep footing pads instead of the 12-inch code minimum, because the interior footings never got inspected once the house was framed. Freeze depth in Union County is 6 to 8 inches, so 20 winters of freeze-thaw cycling walk those piers out of level a fraction of an inch at a time. By year 15 to 20 the girder above sags a half to three-quarters of an inch and you feel it as a dip in the floor. Fix is a shim-and-reset with a bottle jack, hardwood shims, and a new poured footing pad at 12-inch depth under the affected piers. Union County structural permit, one to two days on site depending on pier count. No foundation work required.
Depends on the condition of the wood posts and the specific location. Wood posts (typically 6x6 southern yellow pine on Marvin customs from 2003-2015) that are structurally sound with no visible decay, check, or split, and that are bearing correctly on their footing pads, stay in place — replacing sound wood posts is unnecessary and adds cost without benefit. Wood posts showing decay, check, split, or excessive deflection get replaced with Tiger SmartJack or Grip-Tite adjustable steel posts on new poured footing pads. Steel adjustable posts are also our default in any location where we want the ability to fine-tune the girder elevation over time — for example, in a location where the girder above has a history of seasonal movement. The adjustability is a useful feature but not always necessary.
Depends on how far the rot has progressed. Marvin custom crawls typically have two to three air handlers, and about 40 percent of the ones I inspect show active subfloor rot within a 3-foot radius of at least one of them from decades of slow condensate leaks. Standard fix is a two-trade coordination. Your HVAC contractor replaces the rusted galvanized safety pan under the air handler with a composite Rectorseal 32 pan and adds a float switch on the primary condensate line to kill the compressor if water backs up in the future. We handle the structural side: remove the water-damaged subfloor section, sister any affected joists with matched-species 2x lumber, patch the subfloor with Advantech 3/4-inch OSB. Typical scope for a single air handler is one to two days on the structural side, coordinated with the HVAC contractor's schedule. Both trades finish before the encapsulation goes on top.
Requires a permit for any structural repair beyond incidental maintenance, and pier shim-and-reset is definitely on the permit-required side of the line. Union County filing goes through the Monroe office, turnaround is 5 to 10 business days for approval on a straightforward repair scope. Simple in-kind pier restoration (shim, reset, new footing pad at 12-inch depth) can be filed without an engineer stamp; anything more significant — piers over a half-inch off plumb, visible girder cracking, any joist or girder replacement rather than sistering — requires a structural engineer's stamped specification before filing. We handle the permit paperwork as part of the scope, and every Marvin structural repair I do gets Union County inspection sign-off before we cover any new footings, plus final closeout documentation for the homeowner's records.
Free on-site Marvin inspection. Fixed written quote. Call (980) 227-1769 or book below.