Our focus is on historic preservation, customer service and quality workmanship,
Our goal when working on a project is to implement practical,
long-term solutions to foundation problems
We are the finest in home repair.
We work on most types of homes, and also do repairs
at businesses and apartment buildings
(California Contractor’s license # 685993) is a specialty foundation repair company. We work on all types of homes and businesses, including raised foundations and slab foundations. We work in the greater San Diego area including the cities of San Diego, El Cajon, La Mesa, Coronado, Chula Vista, National City, Lemon Grove and Spring Valley. We have extensive experience working on homes built in the 1880s to the present. We carry a B-1 general license, as well as a C-61-D-30 specialty foundation repair license and a Contractors State Board license #685993. Our focus is on historical preservation, customer service and quality workmanship. Our goal is to implement practical, long-term solutions to foundation problems.
Read our primer on foundations and find about how they become worn with with age and how to best fix them
Here we feature new interesting or expansive projects that we have completed recently
In this section, we give guidelines to understanding the nature of foundation repair by answering some often posed questions, in an easy to understand question and answer format. If you would like to send a question to Craftsman Foundation Repair about your foundation concerns, please feel free to call us or use the contact us page to send us an E-mail.
Answer: The most obvious symptom of a worn out foundation is exposed aggregate. Concrete is comprised of Portland cement, sand and aggregate. Aggregate can be either pea gravel, or commonly in older homes stones from 3/4″ across to large softball sized rocks. When the flat surface wears away, exposing the stones, that’s a good sign that the concrete has reached the end if it’s life.
Answer: Foundation bolts are bolts that connect the wood sill plate to the concrete perimeter foundation. In California, foundation bolts were required by code in 1949 and later. While some houses built prior to 1949 have foundation bolts, most Craftsman and Spanish style houses built in the 20’s and 30’s do not have bolts. An inspection of the crawlspace should reveal bolts at 4-6 foot intervals. The function of bolts is to hold the house to the foundation in case of an earthquake.
Answer: If the condition of an older home’s foundation is good, then a house can be retrofitted. Earthquake retrofitting a house consists of connecting the sill plate to the concrete foundation to prevent the house from moving off the foundation during an earthquake. Straps are bolted to the foundation at 4- foot intervals, and 12″ from each corner. Bolts are epoxy doweled into the concrete to hold the straps to the foundation. If the concrete is not sound, the only way to retrofit the house is to remove and replace the foundation.
“We are writing to thank you for the excellent experience that we had working with on fixing our foundation problems. I’m sure you haven’t received many letters including “excellent experience” and “foundation problems” in the same sentence but that’s what happened for us.”
– Peg Nabetlert – Happy Client
“Choosing Larry Teves at Craftsman was a long process for me. I received bids from you, “Competitor B” and Larry as well as a couple of general contractors. When discussing the job with the general contractors who weren’t specialists, it became clear that the job was not something I wanted to give to someone who had not done this before.”
Timothy Lee Davis- Another satisfied client
Larry Teves has a lot to say about the home repair industry some of it is pretty funny, some of it is pretty serious, but it always from the heart!
Our relationships are supported by a supply chain of socially responsible, ethical companies.
SD Engineering
Civil Engineering inspections
Gary Sniffen
760-632-5474
www.deberryinspections.com
Martin Owen
Geotechnical Engineer, Inspections
Martin Owen 619-813-8462
www.martinowengeotechengineer.com
Hetherington Engineering
Geotech and Civil Engineering/Expert
Danny Cohen 760-931-1917
www.hetheringtonengineering.com