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 Stallings splits into three buckets and it matters which one you are in before anybody quotes you a scope. Bucket one: girder shoring on a 90s or 2000s tract crawl where two decades of moisture and undersized framing have let a main beam sag past acceptable deflection. Bucket two: joist sistering on a rim or interior joist section where wood decay has cost cross-section and structural capacity. Bucket three: pier settlement, either shallow interior piers that were never on proper footings or block perimeter pier stacks that have shifted from freeze-thaw cycling and soil movement. Different work, different sequencing, different Union County permit requirements. Anybody who quotes you 'structural repair' as a lump-sum scope without breaking it out by bucket is either not looking closely or hoping you do not ask.
Last spring I got a call from a homeowner in Ashe Plantation off Idlewild Rd. 1999 colonial, 2,800 SF. Owner said the second-floor hallway had developed a noticeable bounce over the past couple of years and the drywall above the girder was showing a hairline crack running perpendicular to the beam. I dropped in through the north hatch and within twenty minutes had the story. The main east-west girder — a 2x10 flitch beam per the original blueprints I found in the mechanical room — was sagging about 5/8 inch at midspan over a 20-foot run. Two interior support piers that were supposed to be under the girder were sitting on the vapor barrier with no footings — just concrete block stacks resting on the dirt, shifted maybe half an inch off plumb, contributing zero effective support to the girder above them. The sag was real and it needed correction.
Scope on that house: two new Tiger SmartJack adjustable steel posts on proper 24-by-24 concrete pads poured 12 inches deep on undisturbed soil per Union County code, spaced to bring the girder back to within 1/4 inch of level over the 20-foot span. Incremental jacking over three days to avoid cracking drywall above. Union County structural permit filed through the county building department in Monroe, inspection after the pads were poured and again after the jacks were set. The old block-pier stacks came out entirely — dead weight that was doing nothing. Total on-site time was four days including permit inspections. Owner reported the hallway bounce was gone by the end of week two after final jack adjustment, no new drywall cracking. That is the girder-shoring scope in one job.
What follows is what actually gets structurally repaired under Stallings houses, when a scope needs a licensed structural engineer versus when it does not, and what the fast-flip franchises are selling as structural work that is not actually structural. Free on-site inspection with a probe test on suspect wood, a laser level or plumb check on suspect piers, and a fixed written scope. No prices in here — those come after the inspection.
Every Stallings structural job starts with three diagnostic steps. First, laser level or string line across the affected framing member to measure actual deflection. A 20-foot girder can tolerate about 1/2 inch of sag before it becomes noticeable in floors above; more than 5/8 inch and you have finish-material impacts (drywall cracks, floor bounce, doors that stick). Second, probe test on any suspect wood — screwdriver at moderate pressure into girder ends, rim joist sections, and joists under plumbing fixtures. Sinks more than 1/8 inch, the wood has lost cross-section. Third, plumb check on every interior pier and a footing inspection on the perimeter — piers off plumb by more than 1/2 inch or sitting on inadequate footings need addressing before we can effectively shore or sister anything above them.
Sequencing runs strict on any Stallings structural job. Exterior drainage repair first if the lot needs it and there is any active water contribution to structural decay — flat Old Monroe Rd corridor lots pushing water at the foundation accelerate wood decay in the rim and girder ends over time, and if we do not stop the water source the repair we install will start decaying too. Downspout extensions to 10 feet, small regrade, exterior French drain if warranted. Half a day to a day of landscape work.
Structural repair second. New footings poured for any Tiger SmartJack or Grip-Tite adjustable steel post going in — 24-by-24 concrete pads at 12 inches deep on undisturbed soil per Union County code. That code is enforced by Union County inspectors and shallower or narrower pads will fail inspection and have to be redone. Pads cure for at least 3 days before we set jacks. Girder shoring is incremental — jack a quarter inch, wait 24 hours, check the framing and any drywall above for movement or cracking, jack another quarter inch. Never full-lift a sagging girder in one pass, because the framing has settled into its current shape over years and forcing it back too fast will crack finishes above.
Joist sistering is pressure-treated Southern yellow pine 2x10 or 2x12 matching the original member size, glued with construction adhesive and screwed with structural screws every 12 inches along the length and 6 inches at the ends. Sister runs the full length of the compromised joist, not just the rotted section. If a joist has more than about 30 percent cross-section loss over more than 4 feet of its length, we replace rather than sister — cutting the compromised section out and splicing in a new pressure-treated member with proper joist hangers at both ends.
Pier settlement gets addressed by rebuilding on proper footings. Old block-pier stacks sitting on inadequate soil or without any footing at all come out completely, we pour a new 24-by-24 by 12-inch pad on undisturbed soil, and we set a new Tiger SmartJack or Grip-Tite post to the correct height with lag-bolted contact plates at girder and pad. Not shimming the old broken pier back into position — that is a cosmetic fix that fails inside a couple years, and Union County inspectors will not sign off on shimmed piers as structural repair.
Union County permitting on structural work is more consistent than Mecklenburg. Girder shoring, joist sistering over about 4 linear feet, subfloor patch over about a 4-by-4 section, and any pier replacement all require a structural permit filed through the county building department in Monroe. Fees are reasonable, turnaround is usually a week from filing to first inspection. Pad pour gets inspected before we set jacks. Final structural work gets inspected before we close out. We pull all the permits, we schedule the inspections, we hand you the signed-off card at the end.
Adjustable steel posts for girder shoring are Tiger SmartJack (Supportworks) or Grip-Tite adjustable steel posts, both rated to 20,000-plus pounds vertical load with fine-thread adjustment for incremental leveling. Both come with lag-bolted contact plates at top (contacting the girder) and bottom (contacting the concrete footing pad). Not the residential screw jacks from a big-box store — those are rated for temporary shoring at maybe 5,000 pounds and are not permitted for permanent structural support in Union County.
Footing pads for new posts are 24-by-24 by 12-inch deep concrete on undisturbed soil, poured with 3,000 PSI ready-mix or bag mix depending on access, with rebar reinforcement in a #4 grid pattern. Cure 3 days minimum before setting jacks. Union County inspector verifies pad dimensions, soil condition, and rebar placement before we backfill or set posts. Shallower or narrower pads will fail inspection every time.
Joist sistering material is pressure-treated Southern yellow pine dimensional lumber matching the original member size. Original 90s and 2000s Stallings tract framing is typically 2x10 or 2x12 on 16-inch centers for main span joists and 2x8 for shorter runs — verify against the original blueprints where available, or measure the existing member with calipers. Sister lumber is glued with PL Premium construction adhesive along the full length of contact and screwed with GRK RSS or equivalent structural screws every 12 inches along the length and 6 inches at each end.
Subfloor patch is 3/4-inch tongue-and-groove OSB or plywood matching the original substrate. Screwed to every joist on 8-inch centers with 2-1/2-inch structural screws. Seams sealed with SikaFlex-1a to prevent moisture wicking from the crawl into the patch material. Finish flooring above (hardwood, tile, LVP) gets repaired or replaced by the finish flooring contractor — we do the structural substrate, they do the finish.
Joist hangers for spliced replacements use Simpson Strong-Tie LUS or HUS series matched to the joist size, with the manufacturer-specified nail schedule using 10d common nails or Simpson SDS structural screws depending on the hanger model. Full nail schedule, not just the four center nails — Union County inspectors check nail counts on hanger installations.
Perimeter block-pier settlement typically means rebuilding the pier stack. Original mortared brick or block piers that have shifted or are cracked at the mortar joints come out to the footing, we verify the footing depth and condition per code (12 inches minimum on undisturbed soil per Union County), and we rebuild the pier with new 8-inch concrete block set in Type S mortar with a solid cap block at the top contacting the sill. Solid caps not hollow — hollow caps compress over time and reintroduce settlement.
Yes — Stallings is a regular structural support route. Free on-site inspection anywhere in Stallings, fixed written quote before we touch anything.
Structural support work in Stallings deals with pier-settlement issues on a lot of the 90s Emerald Lake and Ashe Plantation stock where the builder used shallow interior block-pier stacks without proper footings — a shortcut we do not see nearly as much in the tighter Matthews or Mint Hill 80s and 90s inventory where inspectors were stricter about pier footing depth on the original build.
28104, 28079. All Union County addresses covered.
Real structural problems have measurable indicators: girder sag past 5/8 inch over a 20-foot span, joist deflection you can measure with a string line, piers off plumb by more than 1/2 inch, wood that fails a probe test (screwdriver sinks more than 1/8 inch under moderate pressure), or visible cracks in finishes above (drywall cracks perpendicular to a beam, floor gaps, doors that suddenly stick). Moisture-only problems look scary but do not affect structural performance — dark staining on subfloor underside from condensation, sagging fiberglass batts, deteriorated vapor barrier, high humidity readings. Free on-site inspection with a laser level, probe test, and plumb check on piers tells you honestly which category you are in. I do not sell structural repair on a moisture-only condition, and if the inspection shows the concern is moisture and not structure I will say that clearly.
Depends on the scope. Standard girder shoring with adjustable steel posts on new footings, joist sistering under about 8 linear feet of compromised member, and subfloor patch under about 8 by 8 feet do not typically require an engineer's stamp — Union County will inspect and sign off on the work under a straightforward structural permit. Where an engineer's stamp becomes required: full girder replacement, joist replacement over long spans, foundation wall repair beyond crack injection, any repair affecting a load path in a way that is not addressed by standard prescriptive code. If your scope requires an engineer, I tell you upfront during the free inspection and I hand you a referral to a licensed structural engineer in the Union County area who I have worked with before. Engineer's report typically adds a couple weeks and a separate fee, but on complex scopes it protects both of us and the county requires it anyway.
Almost always yes, but the process is slow and incremental — that is the whole reason it works. A girder that has been sagging over 20 years has taken the framing above with it, and the finishes upstairs have settled into that shape. Full-lift jacking in one pass will crack drywall, pop nails, and damage flooring — because we are asking the finishes to move back at a rate they cannot handle. Incremental jacking over 3 to 7 days, quarter inch per jack cycle, with 24 to 48 hours between adjustments, lets the framing and finishes migrate back gradually without stressing anything past its tolerance. Sometimes we can only get the girder back to within 1/4 inch of level without stressing finishes, and we stop there rather than force the last bit. That is judgment on the day, not a formula, but the incremental approach has a much better track record than full-lift on any house older than about 15 years.
Depends on the crack pattern and whether the pier is still carrying load. Hairline mortar cracks on a pier that is still plumb, tight against the sill above, and showing no visible settlement is cosmetic — Union County builder-era block piers commonly crack at mortar joints over decades of temperature cycling and it does not necessarily mean structural failure. Piers that are off plumb by more than 1/2 inch, or have gaps at the top where they should be contacting the sill, or have crack displacement of more than 1/8 inch — those are structural and need to be rebuilt on proper footings. Free on-site inspection with a plumb check and a load-contact check on every pier tells you which piers are cosmetic and which need work. On a typical 90s Emerald Lake or Ashe Plantation crawl I usually find one or two piers per house that genuinely need rebuilding and 6 to 10 that are cosmetically cracked but structurally fine.
Free on-site Stallings inspection. Fixed written quote. Call (980) 227-1769 or book below.