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.
Six weeks ago I was under a 1963 brick ranch on Trade St, one block from the Downtown Matthews historic core. The homeowner had noticed her master bedroom floor had a distinct dip in the middle and doors on the upper hallway had started binding over the past year. Under the house: 18 inches of clearance on the tight side, 24 on the open side, and nine interior brick piers supporting a triple 2x10 center girder. Three of the piers had settled between three-quarters of an inch and an inch and a quarter below the girder — they were no longer contacting the wood above them. The floor system was carrying load through joist tension across the failed pier locations, which is exactly why the master bedroom floor was sagging and the doors were binding.
The fix was engineered structural repair with three new pier footings dug and poured to 14 inches on undisturbed soil (Mecklenburg code minimum is 12), three Grip-Tite adjustable steel posts installed to re-shim the girder to correct elevation, and Simpson strong-tie hardware where the girder-to-post connection needed reinforcement. Building permit filed through CityInspect.charlottenc.gov, inspected at footing pour and at final installation. Five-day job with a two-person crew. The homeowner did not know she had a structural problem until she started asking why her doors were sticking, and by that point the girder had been carrying load through joist tension across three failed piers for probably a decade.
Structural support work is its own line of business separate from encapsulation because on Matthews housing stock — especially the pre-1970s brick pier construction near Trade St and the 1970s-80s split-level tract along Sam Newell, Sardis, and John St — pier settlement, girder repair, joist reinforcement, and beam replacement are constant needs. The pre-1970s brick piers were often unmortared stacks set directly on grade with no proper footing, and 60-plus years of freeze-thaw cycles and clay expansion have moved most of them. The 1970s-80s split-levels typically had brick piers set on grade with a shallow footing at best, and 40 years later many of those piers have moved or the girder above them has sagged from decades of load with insufficient support.
Free on-site inspection anywhere in Matthews and out to Mint Hill, Stallings, Weddington, and Indian Trail. If your project needs a licensed structural engineer for design or stamped drawings, I refer to engineers I work with regularly and coordinate the scope. Written quote separates engineering fees from labor and materials so you can see what each piece costs.
The process on a Matthews structural support job starts with figuring out exactly what has moved and by how much, because the visible symptom (sagging floor, binding door, cracked drywall) is downstream of the actual structural failure and you cannot fix the symptom without addressing the cause.
Assessment sequence. First step under the house is walking the entire floor system with a laser level to map elevations at every pier and girder junction, comparing to a theoretical level plane, and identifying which piers have moved relative to which. Then I probe every pier for contact with the girder above — a level along the top of the pier tells me whether it is still bearing or whether the girder is now floating above it. Photos of every failed pier location, elevation readings recorded, and a sketch of the floor system with pier locations marked.
Structural engineer involvement. On any Matthews job where the scope includes new pier footings, girder replacement, joist reinforcement beyond isolated sistering, or any change to the load path of the framing, I engage a licensed structural engineer to review the scope and provide stamped drawings where required by Mecklenburg or Union County building department. Engineer fees run separately from labor and materials and are called out on the written quote. Simple scopes — one or two piers to shore, a few joists to sister, a rim joist section to replace — often do not need engineer sign-off. Larger scopes always do. I make that call on the inspection and tell you upfront.
New pier footing installation. When an existing brick pier has to be shored or replaced, we dig a new footing at the pier location — 24-inch by 24-inch square by 12 to 14 inches deep on undisturbed soil per Mecklenburg or Union County code. Under Union County jurisdiction (Stallings and Weddington side) inspectors are particularly strict about undisturbed soil vs backfill — the footing has to be at grade that has never been filled or the inspector will fail it. Concrete is Sakrete 5000 Plus or Quikrete 5000 mixed on-site, with a rebar cage of two #4 bars in each direction. Footing gets photographed and inspected before pour on jobs where the AHJ inspector requires it.
Adjustable steel post installation. Grip-Tite Model 5 or Tiger SmartJack adjustable steel posts are code-listed for permanent installation on properly poured footings. Post sits on a steel bearing plate on top of the cured footing, extends up to a bearing plate at the underside of the girder, and adjusts with a threaded rod to re-shim the girder to corrected elevation. On Matthews jobs where the girder has been carrying load through joist tension across a failed pier, we adjust slowly over the course of a few days to gradually restore the geometry without cracking drywall above.
Girder repair or replacement. If the girder itself is rotted or has sagged past what shoring alone can correct, we shore the entire girder span with adjustable steel posts on temporary footings, cut out any rotted sections, sister new pressure-treated material alongside, and re-shim to corrected elevation. Full girder replacement is rare but happens on older Trade St houses where the girder was undersized to begin with or where rot has propagated across a long span. Full replacement always requires engineer sign-off.
Joist reinforcement. Sistered 2x10 or 2x12 alongside compromised joists, mechanically fastened with GRK RSS or FastenMaster LedgerLok structural screws at engineer-specified spacing (typically 12 inches or as required by load calculations). Blocking added where joists cross piers or girders. For heavier reinforcement scopes we may add a flitch plate (steel plate sandwiched between wood joists) or a fully welded steel beam, depending on the load requirements.
Permits and inspections. Structural work of any kind requires a Mecklenburg building permit filed through CityInspect.charlottenc.gov or a Union County permit through the office in Monroe. Both jurisdictions inspect at footing pour (if applicable) and at final installation. Permits are our responsibility as part of the scope and included in the written quote.
Adjustable steel posts I spec on Matthews jobs are Grip-Tite Model 5 for standard residential loads (up to 30,000 pounds axial) and Tiger SmartJack for lighter applications or where the travel range needs to be greater. Both are code-listed for permanent installation on properly poured footings and both have galvanized finishes to resist corrosion in humid crawl environments.
Footing concrete is Sakrete 5000 Plus or Quikrete 5000 (5,000 psi compressive strength) mixed on-site to the specified proportions. Reinforcement is two #4 rebar in each direction forming a mat within the footing, placed with 3-inch clear cover to the bottom and sides. Footing dimensions are 24-inch by 24-inch square by 12 inches deep for standard Mecklenburg code compliance, 14 inches deep for Union County jurisdictions or where a structural engineer has specified deeper.
Sistered joist material is #2 SPF pressure-treated 2x10 or 2x12 depending on original joist size, with structural screws (GRK RSS or FastenMaster LedgerLok) at engineer-specified spacing. Simpson Strong-Tie H2.5A hurricane ties at the bearing points on any joist-to-girder or joist-to-header connection that requires reinforcement.
Rim joist and sill plate material is #2 SPF pressure-treated 2x10 minimum, mechanically fastened to existing framing with structural screws. Anchor bolts for retrofit sill plate installation are 5/8-inch diameter embedded in Simpson SET-XP epoxy — the original anchor bolts from 40-year-old poured foundation walls cannot be re-used because the concrete around them has often lost bond over the decades.
Flitch plate reinforcement (when heavier loads require steel-reinforced wood beams) is 1/4-inch thick A36 steel plate sandwiched between two wood joists and through-bolted with 1/2-inch A307 or A325 bolts at engineer-specified spacing. Flitch beams are used sparingly on Matthews residential work — usually only when a large opening (a load-bearing wall removal, a beam span above 16 feet) requires more capacity than wood alone can provide.
Bora-Care borate treatment on any wood that stays in place after cutting out visibly rotted sections. Penetrates several inches into the fiber and stays effective for the life of the wood as long as the wood does not get re-wetted. Standard on Matthews structural jobs because the wet crawl environment that caused the original damage is what we are also addressing with concurrent encapsulation.
Yes — Matthews is a regular structural support route. Free on-site inspection anywhere in Matthews, fixed written quote before we touch anything.
Matthews structural support work is dominated by brick pier settlement — both on the unmortared 1960s-70s piers common on the Trade St and John St pre-1970s stock and on the 1970s-80s split-level tract stock where piers were set on shallow grade footings — driving repeated demand for new pier footings dug to Mecklenburg's 12-inch minimum on undisturbed soil and adjustable steel post shoring to re-shim sagged girders.
28104, 28105. All Mecklenburg County addresses covered.
Warning signs of structural problems on Matthews housing stock: floors that feel bouncy or spongy in specific spots (usually indicates joist damage or pier settlement below), interior doors that stop closing or start binding across a season, drywall cracks running diagonally from door corners or window corners (indicates the framing has racked slightly), gaps opening between baseboards and floors, or visible sag in the ceiling of the room below when viewed from a distance. Cosmetic drywall cracks that stay stable and small (under 1/16 inch) are usually just seasonal movement and do not need structural intervention. Anything progressing over months or years needs an inspection. On the free inspection I map the floor elevations with a laser level and probe every pier and girder — you get a written diagnosis with photos before any work is scoped.
Yes, unfortunately. Pre-1970s brick pier construction across the Charlotte metro — Matthews, Dilworth, Myers Park, Elizabeth, all the historic districts — was often unmortared brick stacks set directly on grade with no proper footing. It was standard construction of the era and it worked for the first 40 or 50 years because the loads were modest and the piers were fresh. After 60-plus years of freeze-thaw cycles, clay expansion, and general soil movement, most of them have moved. The fix is not to re-mortar the original piers — that will not fix a pier that is no longer bearing. The fix is to install new footings and adjustable steel posts alongside the original piers, which take over the load path while the original brick pier stays in place as a decorative or historical element.
Yes, always. Any structural repair — new pier footings, girder replacement, joist sistering beyond isolated repair, sill plate or rim joist replacement, load-bearing wall changes — requires a Mecklenburg County building permit filed through CityInspect.charlottenc.gov or a Union County permit through the office in Monroe if your house is on the Stallings or Weddington side. Inspections happen at footing pour (if applicable) and at final installation. Permit fees are our responsibility and are included in the written quote. Skipping the permit is not an option we offer — unpermitted structural work will fail a home inspection at resale and can void insurance coverage.
Depends on the scope. A one-pier shoring job with a new footing is typically two working days including the concrete cure time. A three-pier shoring job with girder re-shimming is four to five working days. A full girder replacement is a week or more. Rim joist and sill plate replacement is two to four working days depending on length. You can absolutely stay in the house during all of this — the work happens in the crawlspace, we access through an exterior hatch, and there is no interior demolition unless subfloor patching is part of the scope. Occasionally we do have to shore up a specific section of the floor from below while a pier is being replaced, and during that few hours the room above is off-limits for foot traffic, but we schedule that around the household.
Free on-site Matthews inspection. Fixed written quote. Call (980) 227-1769 or book below.