No charge for river-terrace depth
Low lots near the Chattahoochee can send a pier well past the soft ground before it bears, at no extra cost.
Foundation and Leaning Chimney Repair in Duluth, GA
Houses built in Duluth during the 1980s and 1990s sit on eroded clay slopes and damp river terraces, and when a corner, stoop or chimney starts to drop there, Anglin's sets it back on steel.
Median house built in 1994
Duluth foundation repair from the downtown ridge to Chattahoochee bottomland
Anglin's does foundation repair in Duluth on the houses Gwinnett County built fastest. Close to 58% of the city's homes went up between 1980 and 1999, and the median one was finished in 1994, so a big share of Duluth is now between 27 and 46 years old.
Our family has run the business out of Marietta since 1930. Our own crews drive the steel piers, brace the basement walls and repoint the brick on the same visit. Call 770-422-2924 for a free estimate, and most jobs land on the calendar one to four weeks out.
Three days after the rain
The soft low side of a sloped Duluth lot
The side yard that falls away from your house is still soft three days after a storm. On that same end of the house, a crack has opened under the dining room window and runs down through the brick to the foundation, wider at the top than at the bottom.
Inside, the basement door on that end has started dragging on its threshold. Out front, the brick steps have dropped enough that the joint against the house wall is open.
A Marietta masonry family
Masons since 1930, on 30-year-old Duluth houses
Olin L. Anglin started this company in 1930, and the fourth generation of his family works in it now.
Brick problem or footing problem
Stair-step cracks on a 1990s brick front can be failed wall ties needing anchors, and we say so before any pier goes on the estimate.
Two pages for the board
With so many Duluth townhomes and rentals, the people signing get a two-page contract and a quoted price that stays the price.
Steel and masonry, one crew
Certified welders fabricate our steel brackets, heavy enough to lift a two-story brick wall or a full masonry chimney. We use no subcontractors, so the crew that lifts your corner stays to close the cracks and match the mortar.
Half the city is Madison clay
What moves foundations on Duluth's slopes and river bottoms
USDA soil maps put about half of Duluth on Madison sandy clay loam, and more than 60% of the city's mapped soils carry an eroded label. USDA rates that clay low for shrink-swell, so slope, soil graded or backfilled around a footing, and water reaching that soil do most of the damage, not swelling ground.
Wet ground along the Chattahoochee
Along the Chattahoochee on the city's north edge, the map turns to bottomland soils like Chewacla and Toccoa that flood often and stay wet. That strip is a small share of Duluth, but houses on the terraces just above it stand on wetter ground than the houses up near downtown.
Uphill walls against a wet hillside
- Soaked ground pushing in. A daylight basement dug into a Duluth slope holds back the hill, and that load grows when the ground behind the block stays soaked.
- Beams that lock it in. A wall that cracks sideways and leans in gets steel beams through basement wall repair, locked in place right where it stands.
Downhill corners and garage slabs
- Loose fill under the low corner. About a quarter of the ground mapped inside Duluth starts at a 15% slope, and on a graded lot the low corner often rests on dirt pushed there to level the pad. Dirt never packed tight keeps settling for years, and a wet season is when it gives.
- Piers through the fill. Steel push piers go down to load-bearing strata, and hydraulic pressure brings the corner back up where conditions allow.
How callers describe it
- "Cracking on the inside walls and on the outside"
- "Separation between garage and foundation"
- "Foundation has movement and is settling"
How the piers are driven and loaded is covered on our foundation repair page.
The seam at the siding
Chimney repair in Duluth for chimneys pulling off siding
A brick chimney on an outside wall stands on its own small footing, separate from the house foundation. Search for chimney repair in Duluth and the first two pages are sweeps, cleaners and directories, and none of them lift a chimney that is moving.
Out from the ground up
When wet soil softens under the footing, the chimney tips out and the seam at the siding opens widest near the top.
- Steel piers go under the chimney and push poles brace in the yard, then lift and push together so the stack comes back to the wall.
- Brick anchors take the place of the wall ties that snapped, and the same crew repoints the joints that cracked.
In at the roofline
When the top tilts in toward the house, the mason set the upper brick on roof sheathing with no bearing wall under it. That lean gets structural steel, usually resting on a bearing wall up in the attic.
We leave caps, liners and leak work to sweeps and roofers and stay with the structure and the brick. The full method is on our leaning chimney repair page.
More ways we can help
After 30 years on a Duluth slope
Houses of the age and build common across Duluth tend to need these next.
Sinking steps and stoops
Brick steps on a graded lot often sit on backfill instead of the footing, and we pier and lift them without tearing them out.
Garage lintels and brick walls
A two-car door opening carries a long run of brick, and when the steel angle over it sags, that brick cracks in steps. A brick front leaning out with no cracks inside the house is often a wall-tie problem that anchors can hold.
Retaining wall repair
Backyard walls stepping down toward the river terraces lean over the years, and we stabilize the walls you already have without building new ones.
Sinking deck posts
A tall deck off a daylight basement stands on posts, and piers under failed footings stop them from settling further.
Chattawood to Sweet Bottom
Duluth's railroad ridge, river edge and the ground between
Duluth grew fast in the 1970s and 1980s along with the rest of Gwinnett County, and the Census count shows almost no houses left from before 1950. About 17% of homes are townhomes and roughly 43% of households rent, so plenty of repairs here get approved by an HOA board or a landlord.
Chattawood to Chattahoochee Landing
- Chattawood. North of McClure Bridge Road, it filled in between 1974 and 1984.
- River Mill. Its houses went up from 1980 to 1982.
- Riverbrooke. Its houses followed from 1991 to 1995.
- Chattahoochee Landing. It was built out from 1994 to 1996.
- Sweet Bottom Plantation. On the east bank of the Chattahoochee, it has been building since 1983.
Rain that splits at the railroad
The tracks through downtown Duluth follow the Eastern Continental Divide, a ridge line that runs fairly level. Rain on the river side drains toward the Chattahoochee, and rain on the other side heads for the Atlantic.
Lots on both sides slope away from that ridge. The soil follows the slope, with eroded Madison clay on the hillsides and wet Chewacla and Toccoa bottomland along the river.
Maps and gauges for your own lot
- USDA Web Soil Survey: look up the soil mapped under your lot.
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center: check whether your address falls in a mapped flood zone.
- Chattahoochee River at GA 120 at Duluth: the USGS river gauge on the city's north edge.
Tipping in over the shingles
Steel for a chimney leaning in above the roof
This job starts with a chimney that looks straight from the yard up to the gutter, then tilts in above the roof. On a tall two-story chimney that lean shows from the street even when the brick below the roofline looks plumb.
Why it leans there
At the roofline the mason is supposed to rest the brick on a load-bearing wall, but on a rushed build the upper courses go straight onto the shingles and roof sheathing.
- Above the roof the chimney gets wider and picks up its back side, so the heaviest part of the stack sits on wood that was never meant to hold it.
- On a house with a prefab fireplace the lean can go far enough that the chimney slides down the roof and bows out toward the street.
Piers under the footing will not fix this kind, because the footing never moved.
The work goes in this order
- Read the lean. We check where the tilt starts and look at the framing in the attic, since that tells us what the steel has to carry.
- Pick the steel for the space. Structural steel beams, channel iron or angle iron go in, depending on how much room and access the attic gives.
- Set it on a bearing wall. The steel is typically seated on a load-bearing wall in the attic, so the chimney's weight comes off the roof sheathing.
Flashing and roof leaks stay with your roofer, and our crew handles the structural steel.
Customer Reviews
The work matters.
So does your word.
Hear from homeowners about the repair, the crew, and the finished work.
★★★★★
“My foundation at the entrance to my garage had settled significantly over the lifetime of my home, causing the brick facia to crack in multiple directions. Anglin Did a great job, correcting the settlement and closing the cracks In the facia.”
P. J.
Settled garage entrance lifted and the brick closed
Clay, river lots, chimney lean
Duluth questions on clay slopes, river lots and chimneys
Honest answers before you make a decision.
Still have QuestionsMonday through Saturday
Call about the corner, steps or chimney that's moving
A footing that has moved may stop, creep or keep going, and nobody can tell which from a single look. Call 770-422-2924 Monday to Saturday from 8 AM to 6 PM, or reach the live answering service after hours. Estimates are free, and Regions Bank offers financing on approved credit.
Set a time for your free estimate