Should I Repair My Foundation Or Replace It?
Many homeowners feel that if their foundation is cracked or damaged, the logical thing to do is to replace it. However, as with most home repairs, it’s important to consider ALL your options if you want to get the most for your money and the least disruption of daily family life.
Whether you choose to repair or replace the foundation, this is a job you’ll only want to take care of once. The most important thing is to find an effective, permanent solution from a contractor you can trust.
At Foundation Systems of Michigan, we’d like to help you find the best solution to your foundation problem. We can perform a comprehensive inspection of your foundation, providing a professional consultation and a written cost quote.
Call or e-mail us today to schedule your free quote! We proudly serve Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, Saginaw, Traverse City, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Muskegon, Jackson, Troy, Bloomfield Hills, Sterling Heights, Charlevoix, Flint, Clio, Gaylord, Madison Heights, Midland, Lexington, Mt. Pleasant, Adrian, and the surrounding areas in Michigan.
What’s Causing My Foundation Problem?
In a nutshell, foundation settlement is the movement your home experiences when the soil beneath it shrinks, settles, or can no longer support the structure’s weight.
Changes that occur in those soils — such as drying & shrinking, wetting & softening, compacting and swelling — all affect the stability, strength and overall condition of your foundation.
A foundation with bowing, buckling walls is demonstrating the damage caused by expansive soils. When clay-rich soils absorb moisture, their volume increases dramatically.
This can increase pressure on your home’s foundation walls by thousands of pounds, causing walls to bow and buckle inward.
A home that is experiencing foundation issues is not likely to get better on its own. As the constant cycle of wet and dry periods continues, your home is likely to experience damage on a continuing basis.The sooner the problem is addressed, the better.

The different types of soil around a foundation will behave in different ways as temperature and moisture conditions change, possibly affecting the condition of the foundation.
Foundation Replacement
With total foundation replacement, heavy equipment is brought in to totally excavate the soil around your home and expose the foundation.
Anything around the foundation — such as porches, steps, gardens, walkways, and foliage — would be removed.
The house would need to be “jacked up” on temporary supports as the foundation walls and slab floor and are removed. After the new foundation is built, the house is lowered into place, the soil is replaced and the landscape details are restored as much as possible.
This process is disruptive, time-consuming, and much more expensive than foundation repair.
Foundation Repair
Following a thorough foundation inspection, the foundation repair contractor will explain how and why the damage occurred, and how specialized materials and techniques can be used to make permanent repairs.
There are a variety of solutions that can be applied. If you have buckling foundation walls, for example, foundation wall anchors may be suggested as the solution. Foundation settlement issues are often solved with foundation piers.
Foundation repair can be performed year-round, and many repairs just take a day to complete. Our foundation products include a 25-year written warranty, as well as our own performance warranty.
More about our foundation repair products.


An article from Consumer Reports has shown that an alarming 15% of new homes constructed also experience structural problems.
These problems generally have two causes: poor construction quality, and homes built on poorly compacted fill soils.
Repair The Foundation Or Replace It?
While there are some extreme cases where a foundation just can’t be fixed, we recommend repairing the foundation whenever possible.
Not only is choosing to total foundation replacement extremely disruptive and expensive, it doesn’t address the source of the problem: your foundation soils.
Since you’ve built a new foundation on the same troublesome soil, you can expect the same behavior from that soil — the kind that will “break” your new foundation just like it did the old one!
What Makes Foundation Repair Better?
A reliable foundation contractor will do more than simply repair a damaged foundation. Their repair strategy will take problematic soils and site conditions into consideration so that the original problems cannot recur.
Wall anchors reach beyond foundation walls, using the soils outside of your foundation to anchor the walls and counteract inward pressure.
WHY CHOOSE US?
Since 2007, Foundation Systems of Michigan has been Michigan’s most trusted foundation repair contractor. We have grown and continue to grow as a leader in the industry because of our outstanding reputation. We have earned this reputation year after year, one job at a time, and we work hard every day to maintain that reputation. We don’t just fix foundations – we help people. Restoring your peace of mind, and protecting your home.
Our Customers Trust Us
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Cannot thank FSM enough for the whole house generator install! General, electrical and gas team were phenomenal! Jeff was great on the sales for set up and Brad, Chris and Alfredo were excellent on the install. Would highly recommend them for any…
Michelle Mullen
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Jalen Eric Royce Shamori did great ty guys
Kesi Moore
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Jacob, the crew leader, did a good job walking through the work plan beforehand, and reviewing the work afterward. Mario and Razak put up a good amount of plastic before they jackhammered. The jackhammering was pretty efficient, and the WallSeal…
Brian Neilson
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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MARC WAS VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT MY FOUNDATION AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO HELP THE SITUATION.
Steve Dulka
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Marc and Wendy were super informative
Nick Watson
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Kyle was phenomenal to work with. He was incredibly knowledgeable, direct, and was to effectively communicate our problem and the possible ways to fix it. We absolutely appreciated that. He even made sure that what we talked about specifically…
Cameron Calkins
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Andrew Scheys was honest and very knowledgeable. I had FSM out years ago and was unsure about the fix at the time. Andrew walked me through the project took his time and we understood and realize this was the right company and the right fix. I would…
Drake Garber
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Jacob Lemasters recently came out to the house and performed the annual sump pump and dehumidifier service maintenance check. He was very professional, friendly and helpful with specific advice. I highly recommend him as a service agent.
Gary Johnson
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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I had a sump pump replaced and the sump pump drainage pipe installed. Stephen M., Aaron D. and David W. was the crew that came out on June 13th and did a great job. Thank you for your professional and friendly service!
Diane Klakulak
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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John Weidenbach is an excellent representative for your co. He explained my options understandable and honesty. I would recommend your co. and John to anyone needing your service. Patty from Richmond MI
Patty Descheemaeker
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Marc was the most helpful and knowledgeable. Really explained to me how fsm products work. Definitely recommend
Scott S
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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So far the service has been great! I called with several concerns about our 116 year old house, including moisture in the basement which made us concerned about foundation leaks, and a widening gap between house and chimney. Michael came out to…
Laurie Sefton
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Our Salesman, John, had said he would have a handyman referred to us for some things needing done prior to the installation date, which we did not receive. Found someone else to take care of those jobs on our own. He did, however, forward my…
Renique Greenly
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Kyle, James, Scott, Blake, and Mike did a great job on our gutter install – showed up on time and took great care with the home. Quality of the work was great and they also treated our property like their own.
Ryan Kraft
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Marc was very helpful and informative. He answered all my questions, and went through all options that he thought would be best for our home
James Mason
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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We had some water coming into our basement and had Kenn come out for a free inspection. He was polite, responsive, and showed up on time. He educated us about waterproofing our home and taught us about the different options for resolving our issue.…
Joel
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Kyle, Scott and Mike installed our gutters in time. They worked clean and were very friendly and professional. I recommend them any time.
Franz Winkler
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Stephen M, Aaron D, and Zarius D are my heroes. I was not able to lock my front door and when they installed the stabilizers and lifted I could lock the door. And a window that was not opening horizontally very well will now open with ease. These…
Jude Muir
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Marc did excellent on going over everything and making us comfortable with choosing a plan that was right for us.
Chantal Bathgate
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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Andrew Scheys was in time and honest gave a detailed quote i will be using FSM when ready
Bobby Lower
Foundation Systems of Michigan
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