Pier pricing and coverage
A downhill footing on pushed-in fill can need a long pier to reach firm ground, and pier depth never adds to your bill. The lifetime warranty on our steel piers transfers to the next owner if you sell.
Foundation and Leaning Chimney Repair in Acworth, GA
On the eroded clay slopes that run down to Lake Acworth and Allatoona, downhill corners and brick chimneys sink toward the low side of the lot, and Anglin's pins them on steel piers driven to ground that holds.
Lake slopes and 2000s basements
Acworth foundation repair for lake-slope basements, 1990s subdivisions and Collins Avenue brick
Anglin's does foundation repair in Acworth, GA for houses built into the hills above Lake Acworth, Allatoona Creek and Proctor Creek. We drive steel push piers under settled footings and chimneys, brace cracked basement walls, and our own masons repair the brick afterward. Call our Marietta office at 770-422-2924 for a free estimate.
About six in ten Acworth houses went up between 1990 and 2009, and the city's median build year is 2000. The oldest streets are much older, with Victorian houses on Collins Avenue dating from about 1890 to 1910.
The view from the back deck
Signs on the lake side of an Acworth house
You're out on the back deck, on the side of the house that faces downhill, and the chimney next to you has a crack climbing from the ground toward the soffit. There's a gap between the brick and the siding wide enough to slide a pencil into. Downstairs, the door to the walk-out basement drags on its frame.
That low side is where houses on these hills tend to give. What you want to know is whether it's still moving and how much of the house went with it. We measure the gap and dig down to the footing before anyone talks about piers.
Masons first, since 1930
Why Acworth hillside owners call brick masons
Olin L. Anglin started the company in 1930, and his family still runs it out of Marietta, in the same county as Acworth.
Old joints matched by the pier crew
Acworth's historic guidelines ask for matching mortar and a qualified mason. The crew that lifts your chimney repoints it.
A plain answer on subdivision brick
Cracked 1990s veneer is sometimes broken wall ties, not a sinking footing. We tell you when piers aren't needed.
Our own crew, no commissioned salesmen
No subcontractors. Your estimator has done the work, and the two-page contract price is what you pay.
Eroded clay on a grade
What's moving foundations on Acworth's hillsides and creek bottoms
USDA soil maps put most of Acworth on Madison, Gwinnett, Appling and Pacolet soils, on slopes from gentle up to 25 percent, and about six in ten spots we sampled inside city limits are mapped as severely eroded, with clay close to the surface. That clay rates low for swelling and shrinking, so what moves a house here is weight resting on loose fill and water softening the clay on the low side. Our foundation repair starts by finding which one moved yours.
Walk-out basements dug into the hill
Many 1990s and 2000s Acworth houses sit on graded lots with the basement cut into the slope. The buried wall holds back soil, while the downhill footings, stoop and chimney can end up on backfill that keeps settling for years.
Where Proctor and Allatoona creeks flood
- Lake Acworth formed in 1950 behind a Corps of Engineers dam on Proctor and Butler creeks, and it empties into Allatoona.
- Creek-bottom soil near town is mapped as frequently flooded and can stay wet about a foot below the surface.
- Allatoona Creek rose over flood stage at Stilesboro Road in January 2024.
What people say when they call
- "foundation is cracked on the outside of the home, and seems to be settling"
- "basement block walls are starting to bow and have cracks in them"
- "back deck that is starting to sink and pull away from the home"
- "stair stepping cracks all along that side of the home"
Chimneys on the downhill wall
Chimneys on Acworth lake slopes and 1990s two-stories
Leaning chimneys are the job our family is best known for, and Acworth houses show two kinds.
The whole stack pulls away from the house
On a lot falling toward the lake or a creek, a downhill brick chimney puts heavy weight on one small footing. When the fill or wet clay under it gives, the chimney pulls away and the crack runs from the ground up to the soffit.
It tilts in only above the soffit
On many 1990s and 2000s houses the mason set the brick above the soffit on roof decking instead of a load-bearing wall, so the top tilts in while the base looks fine. We carry that weight with structural steel set on a load-bearing wall in the attic.
What the lift looks like
- For a chimney separating at the base, steel piers go under the footing and lift while push poles braced in the yard press the stack back toward the wall.
- Brick anchors hold it there, and our masons repair the joints the lean opened.
- Your roofer handles the flashing.
Near downtown, city guidelines ask owners to keep historic chimneys, and straightening keeps the original brick standing. Our leaning chimney repair page covers both kinds of lean.
More ways we can help
What else sinks on a sloped Acworth lot
Most of the rest of our work here comes from building on a slope.
Deck posts and stoops
Lake-side decks sink at the posts. We pier failed deck footings and replace rotted posts with wood or steel. A brick stoop on subdivision backfill sinks away from the front door. We lift it back on piers.
The wall buried in the slope
A block wall holding back the hill can crack and bow. Basement wall repair locks it in place with steel beams.
Terraced backyard walls
A retaining wall holding dirt gets locked where it stands. A freestanding one can often come all the way back, usually in one to two days.
Floors over old brick piers
Acworth's guidelines ask historic homeowners to keep pier foundations open. When the floor above sags, we level it from underneath.
Lake town, old railroad core
Acworth's lakes, historic streets and boom-era subdivisions
Acworth sits in northwest Cobb County on the southeastern banks of Lake Acworth and Lake Allatoona, and water covers about 6 percent of the city. Fewer than one in twenty houses here were built before 1960, and the subdivisions that followed climb the hills between the lakes and the creek valleys.
Collins Avenue and Park Street
The Collins Avenue Historic District, a local historic district since 1998, holds Victorian houses from about 1890 to 1910 and Craftsman bungalows from the 1920s. Park Street is the city's other local historic district, and downtown along Main Street and the railroad joined the National Register in 2006.
- Chimneys: the city's design guidelines ask owners to keep historic chimneys.
- Mortar: repointing should use a mix that matches the original joints.
Brookstone and 30102's 1980s basements
Brookstone's golf club was built in 1988 and homes there went up into the mid-2000s. In the 30102 ZIP code the 1980s were the busiest decade for building, so many of those basement walls and chimneys are around 40 years old now.
Look up your own lot
- Acworth Historic Preservation Commission: the city board for the Collins Avenue and Park Street districts.
- Acworth historic design guidelines (PDF): what the city asks for on chimneys, pier foundations and mortar.
- USDA Web Soil Survey: look up the soil mapped under your own lot.
A low corner and its chimney
Fixing a sunken lake-slope corner and its chimney
Take a typical two-story walk-out basement house where the downhill corner and the chimney beside it have settled. Steel push piers go under the footings at that corner and under the chimney, driven to load-bearing ground with no charge for depth. The corner comes up while push poles press the chimney back to the wall.
If the buried basement wall has cracked sideways, steel beams lock it in where it stands. Our masons repair the joints the movement opened, many jobs like this are done in one day, and you hardly ever need to leave the house while we work.
Customer Reviews
The work matters.
So does your word.
Hear from homeowners about the repair, the crew, and the finished work.
★★★★★
“The team that lifted our chimney was prompt, courteous and efficient. Other then the repair, you simply could not tell they were even there despite the fact they had to remove part of our deck to do the work.”
Scott L.
Leaning chimney lifted with part of the deck taken up for access
Slopes, creeks and old brick
Acworth lake-lot and historic-house questions
Honest answers before you make a decision.
Still have QuestionsBefore the next hard rain
Have an Anglin's mason look at your Acworth house
Tell us which corner is dropping or which way the chimney leans, and we'll come out, measure it and write up the repair at no cost. Call 770-422-2924, Monday through Saturday, 8 AM to 6 PM.
Book a free look at the low side