Repair Type
Foundation Drainage and Grading in Grand Junction
Getting roof water, irrigation water, and yard runoff away from the foundation so the soil under it stops changing volume.
Almost every foundation problem in the Grand Valley is a water problem wearing a structural costume. The clay soils here change volume as their moisture content changes, and the damage comes not from being wet or being dry but from swinging between the two. A foundation that stays at a steady moisture content is a foundation that stays still. That is why drainage work is not an upsell tacked onto a pier job, it is the half of the repair that stops the problem coming back. The scope covers the obvious items, which are downspouts dumping at the wall and negative grade falling back toward the house, and the less obvious ones that are particular to this valley: lawn irrigation running hard against the foundation, a flood-irrigation lateral or a shared ditch crossing the property, and landscape beds watered on a schedule that never matches the weather. Corrections are mostly simple and mostly cheap relative to structural work.
What the scope covers
- Grade survey around the full perimeter, with fall re-established away from the wall over the first several feet
- Downspout extensions and buried discharge lines that release well clear of the foundation
- French drains and perimeter drains where surface correction alone cannot move the water
- Interior drain tile and sump systems for basements taking water at the wall and floor joint
- Irrigation review at the foundation line: heads throwing at the wall, drip lines run tight to the stem wall, leaking laterals
- Window well drainage and covers, one of the most common sources of water at a basement wall
- Moisture-stable landscaping recommendations for the first several feet around the house
To get this priced on your own house, call (970) 644-6329 or send the quote form. Someone comes out, measures, and leaves a written scope and a price at no charge.
Read next
On drainage, specifically
- We are in a desert. How is water the problem?
- Because the soil is dry by default, so every source of added water is a change rather than a background condition. Grand Junction gets modest annual precipitation but the valley is heavily irrigated, and a lawn sprinkler running against a foundation puts more water into that clay in a summer than the sky does in a year. Expansive soil responds to the change, not the average.
- How much fall do I need away from the house?
- The common rule of thumb in residential construction is roughly six inches of fall in the first ten feet of grade, with hard surfaces allowed to be a little flatter. What matters more than the exact figure is that water leaves rather than pools. If there is a puddle against the stem wall the morning after a storm, the grade is wrong regardless of what a tape measure says.
- Should I water near the foundation or keep it dry?
- Steady beats either extreme. Letting clay dry out completely in July and then soaking it in August is harder on a foundation than a consistent, modest moisture level year round. Where a house is already showing movement, the usual advice is to even out the watering rather than to stop it abruptly.
- Is drainage work worth doing without the structural repair?
- Often yes, particularly early. A house with hairline cracking and a downspout problem may need nothing more than the downspout fixed and a season of watching. Drainage correction is the cheapest intervention available and it is the one that makes every other repair last.
From the Field Notes
More on this, written for the Grand Valley
Contractor Licensing and Building Permits in Grand Junction and Mesa County
Who has to be licensed, who issues the permit, which code editions apply in Mesa County, and what a foundation repair building permit actually adds to the bill.
Four Building Eras in Grand Junction, and the Foundation Each One Left Behind
A uranium boom, an oil shale bust in 1982, a gas boom and a crash. Grand Junction built in bursts, and each burst left its own foundation and failure pattern.
Why Hillside Lots in the Redlands Fail Differently
Cut-and-fill pads put half a house on engineered fill and half on native ground. That produces bowing walls and differential settlement, not uniform sinking.
Related Repairs
Scopes that usually travel together
Foundation problems here rarely arrive alone. A settled corner and a sunken driveway apron on the same side of the house are usually the same void, and piering without fixing the water that caused it buys time rather than a solution.
Foundation Settlement Repair
Steel piers driven or screwed past the moving soil to competent bearing, then the footing is transferred onto them
Basement and Stem Wall Repair
Cracked, leaning, and bowing foundation walls braced or anchored back so the movement stops
Crawl Space Repair and Encapsulation
Failed piers and posts replaced, sagging girders re-supported, and the ground sealed off from the house above
Concrete Leveling and Slab Lifting
Sunken driveways, walks, patios and garage slabs raised back to grade by injecting under them rather than replacing them
Find out what the repair costs
Ring (970) 644-6329, or send the form, and a Grand Valley foundation contractor prices the work at no charge.