Whatever's wrong under your house — standing water, wood rot, sagging floors, fallen insulation, mold — we diagnose it on the spot and hand you a fixed-price plan the same day. No pressure, no scare tactics.
A licensed local crew — usually out in 24 to 72 hours. Written scope, fixed price, no pressure.
Crawlspace repair in Waxhaw covers a wider spread of actual work than almost any other town in this metro because the housing stock is so split. On any given week I might be under a 1892 merchant house on Main St fixing a settled brick pier that's dropped an inch and a half over three decades, then two days later I'm under a 2010 custom in Longview replacing a rotted rim joist because the builder ran fiberglass tight against a cold rim with no air gap. Same trade, same tools in the truck, completely different failure modes. Waxhaw doesn't let you specialize in just one era.
The repair job that comes to mind first is a house I did on Broome St downtown last October. Late-1890s two-story, historic district home, brick pier foundation with 22 inches of clearance. Owner called because he could feel the floor sloping toward the front bay window when he walked across the living room. I crawled it and the front elevation piers had settled hard — two of them cracked clean through at the third course from the top, one had shifted almost 2 inches off vertical, and the sill above was riding on the top brick with maybe a quarter inch of contact left. Cause was a downspout that had been dumping directly onto the footing for probably 30+ years, saturating the clay and letting it consolidate under the pier load. Fix took nine days total: shore the section with Tiger SmartJacks and steel adjustable posts, drive four helical piers to bearing at 8 feet, rebuild the two failed brick piers to match the historic pattern (had to source reclaimed brick from a demo salvage in Monroe), sister two joists that had cracked when the pier let go, replace 14 feet of rotted sill on the front elevation, and then we could talk about the vapor barrier and encapsulation. Union County permit for the structural, HDC review on the visible exterior work (which was minimal — the downspout redirect was the only thing they cared about).
Contrast that with a repair I did in Marvin Creek two weeks later. 2004 build, block perimeter, 42-inch crawl clearance. Owner called because he'd noticed a soft spot on his kitchen floor near the fridge. Crawled it and found a slow water leak from the icemaker line that had been running for probably two years — the subfloor sheathing had rotted through in a 3-foot by 2-foot section, the joist directly under it had a full 4 feet of decay, and there was black mold spread across probably 12 square feet of the adjacent framing. Fix was demo the rotted subfloor from below, sister the affected joist with a new 2x10 doubled up (glued and screwed with GRK RSS), replace the subfloor patch with 3/4-inch tongue-and-groove Advantech, cut back the moldy fiberglass and treat the framing with a botanical antimicrobial, and repair the icemaker line. Three days, Union County permit for the structural.
Downtown Waxhaw historic repair starts with a full pier inspection. I string a line across the sill from wall to wall to measure actual settlement per pier — anything more than a quarter inch of deflection is a real problem, anything over 3/4 inch is critical. On a 120+ year old pier crawl I expect two to four piers with meaningful movement on the average job. Each affected pier gets photographed, mapped, and prioritized. Shoring goes in first — Tiger SmartJack adjustable steel posts under a temporary sill plate spread across three or four joists so we can unload the failing pier without letting the framing above drop further. Then we dig the pier out to inspect the footing (or the lack of one — most 1890s Waxhaw piers were laid directly on grade with no footing at all), and drive helical piers to bearing depth. Union County typically requires footings to bear at 12 inches minimum on undisturbed soil, and their inspector will fail the job if the new footing sits on any fill or organic material. For pier rebuilds in the historic district we source reclaimed brick from local salvage yards — the Waxhaw HDC cares about historic-appropriate materials on any pier or exterior work visible from the right-of-way. Sill replacement gets sistered pressure-treated 2x10 or 2x12 depending on the original stock, joist sistering runs full length wherever the old joist has any rot. Structural permits pull through Union County in Monroe.
Out on Marvin Rd for the 2000s luxury stock the repair story flips entirely. Structural failures are almost never pier or footing (those foundations are engineered fill with block perimeter, they're not moving). What we see instead is hidden slow-leak damage: icemaker lines, dishwasher supply lines, ice maker filter housings, upstairs shower drain seals, and occasionally supply plumbing at joist penetrations. These leaks run for months or years in a tall open crawl where nobody ever looks, and by the time anyone notices a soft spot upstairs there's already 20 to 40 square feet of rot. Repair sequence: locate and stop the leak first (I've had homeowners try to skip this and just fix the wood — the leak comes back and eats the repair inside a year), demo the affected subfloor and framing from below, sister or replace joists as needed with 2x10 or 2x12 to match, replace subfloor with 3/4-inch tongue-and-groove Advantech (I don't use OSB in a crawl repair — it's cheaper but it wicks moisture at any cut edge). If there's mold on the adjacent framing we treat with a botanical antimicrobial like Concrobium or Benefect Decon 30 — never bleach, bleach doesn't kill mold in porous wood and leaves the surface actively wet for weeks. Union County permit required for any structural sistering or joist replacement.
For downtown Waxhaw pier work: helical piers are HMI or Grip-Tite steel with either 3-inch or 4-inch shaft depending on load, driven to a minimum torque of 4,000 ft-lb or bearing refusal, whichever comes first. Tiger SmartJack adjustable steel posts (rated at 30,000 lb) for permanent bearing at rebuilt piers where new footings have been poured. Rebuild brick sourced from local salvage — Old Carolina Brick reclaimed inventory or Monroe Brick and Tile salvage yard for anything that needs to match a specific 1890s pattern. Mortar mix is Type S masonry with a lime component to match the historic joint feel, not a modern high-strength Type M that would crack the reclaimed brick.
For sill and joist repair on both the downtown historic and the Marvin Rd stock: pressure-treated Southern Yellow Pine sistered with GRK RSS structural screws (5/16 by 5-inch minimum, staggered pattern every 12 inches). Subfloor patch is 3/4-inch Advantech tongue-and-groove ZIP sheathing, glued with PL Premium construction adhesive and screwed with 2-inch deck screws. Antimicrobial treatment on any adjacent moldy framing is Concrobium Mold Control or Benefect Decon 30 applied per manufacturer spec. For active water at the repair area (leak sites, not standing water) we install a Zoeller M53 sump in a sealed basin with a Liberty 257 as backup where the situation warrants dual pumps. Structural permits pull through Union County in Monroe — plan on 5 to 10 business days for permit turnaround plus another 3 to 5 for inspection scheduling.
Yes — Waxhaw is a regular crawlspace repair route. Free on-site inspection anywhere in Waxhaw, fixed written quote before we touch anything.
Waxhaw crawl repair is more structural-heavy than most Charlotte suburbs because the downtown pre-1900 stock has real brick pier settlement on maybe a third of the houses, and the Marvin Rd luxury 2000s builds have hidden slow-leak damage that goes unnoticed for years in the tall open crawls where nobody looks.
28173. All Union County addresses covered.
Almost certainly yes, and it's the most common repair I see on the downtown Waxhaw historic stock. Front-elevation pier settlement is usually driven by downspout drainage dumping onto the footing, sidewalk grade sheeting water toward the house, or original grade issues that were never corrected. On any pre-1900 house within a quarter mile of Main St I expect at least two to four piers with real movement. Fix is helical piers or SmartJacks driven to bearing, plus pier rebuilds where the brick has failed. Union County requires structural permits. HDC will want to review any downspout redirect or grading changes visible from the public right-of-way, but the pier work itself is invisible from outside and doesn't trigger review.
Usually no. On the Marvin Rd 2000s luxury stock the crawl clearance is 3.5 to 5 feet, which means we can do almost all subfloor and joist repair from below without touching the finished floor above. We demo the affected subfloor sheathing from below, sister the damaged joist with new 2x10 or 2x12, install a patch of 3/4-inch Advantech from below with structural adhesive and screws, and the finished floor above never has to come up. The exception is if the damage extends through the subfloor and into the finish flooring itself — in that case we'll usually still repair from below and just patch a small area of finish flooring rather than doing a full-room tear-out.
Structural work — pier replacement, helical piers, sistered joists, girder replacement, sill replacement, subfloor patches — requires a Union County building permit filed through the county office in Monroe. Turnaround is typically 5 to 10 business days for permit issuance, plus another 3 to 5 for inspection scheduling. Union County inspectors are strict about footing depth (12 inches minimum on undisturbed soil for any new pier or footing) and they will fail the job if the new footing sits on fill or organic material. We pull the permit as part of the job and roll the fee into the fixed written quote.
It's a temporary fix at best and I see it constantly in the downtown Waxhaw historic homes. Shimming a settled pier with cedar shims or steel plates can buy you a few years if the underlying settlement has stopped, but if the cause (drainage, clay consolidation, footing failure) is still active, the pier will keep moving and the shim just delays the visible symptoms. Real fix is to unload the pier with a Tiger SmartJack, dig it out, inspect the footing (or lack of one — most 1890s Waxhaw piers have no footing at all), drive a helical pier to bearing depth, and either rebuild the brick pier on top of the new footing or replace it with a permanent steel adjustable post. Then address the drainage that caused the settlement in the first place.
Free on-site Waxhaw inspection. Fixed written quote. Call (980) 227-1769 or book below.