Hi; I have a very unique and I guess strange but very serious problem. My great uncle, 85 years young had a home built 6 years ago. As with many homes in Southeastern Ky it was built up on a hill side on a rocky point, when the builder had the foundation poured they only escavated down to the shell and they never put any steel down into the solid rock. The drainage wasn't installed corectly and now the house is settling down and over the hill side. In 6 years it has moved approx. 2 inches over and down very little. The center beam post, concrete peers have settles about 4-6 inches and has to be rejacked and blocked about every 3-6 months, the house has a very large double fire place the secound story floor joists are up against it and they have pushed out and busted the outside band. We have a plan, but you guys seem to always ask the right questions and make some really good suggestions. Oh by the way the builder no longer exsists, GO FIGURE......Turn on the brain power dig out all the knowledge and have at this problem. Any help will be greatly apperciated, THANKS.

Those are serious problems, and to comment without seeing the conditions, and without knowledge of the local soils, would not be appropriate.

In general, the first order of business should be to stop the movement. Exactly how, I will leave to local experts who have seen the conditions there. Then you can begin to repair the damage, and again, exact methods ahould be prescribed by someone, hopefully a professional such as a structural engineer or a GOOD architect, whi has seen the house.

Good luck.

thanks for responding, only with some more people would respond. Again thanks

You could stop the movement with piering, but you problem is not simple so you need a very good company that can warrant such work. Check out Ramjack.com

Does your state offer a home warranty? In NJ most homes built by builders are warranted for a period of 10 years. You may want to check on this.

That is very serious, a chimney pulling the rim off the bldg?!!
Having done two foundation replacements, one on a hill, I can somewhat visualize the situation. The problem with hills is they are often moving on the surface. Until a structure can be anchored below that surface it too will move. My "house" took around 70 years to move the wood post foundation 2" off the dry stacked stone below grade, however we do not know how far the whole assembly moved in that time. What you are witnessing is a bldg with the illusionof a foundation, and here are some thoughts:


1. Is the chimney on the bedrock you mention? If upon inspection the chimney is stable & not damaged ("bent" from the pulling on it), you may not have to replace it. It is quite common for the chimney to get a different degree of footing and consequently settle or move differently from the bldg.

2. The "foundation" you have is likely worthless and should be removed by first raising the house, relocate it back to where it was with the (hopefully) saved chimney. Then a real (i.e. engineered from an analysis of the conditions) foundation can be constructed by a contractor experienced in this type of work.

3. If the chimney is lost and nothing else involved, the new foundation could be constructed where the house sits now.

4. These are thoughts based on a posting, nothing short of a complete on-site inspection by registered structural engineers and written reports / design should dictate what you do. The contractors who do this work can have a lot to offer, but even they would be prudent to be backed by engineering. (no, I'm not an engineer!)

5. On another note for future reference:

It is not normal that a building department official would approve plans w/o engineers or arch. seal for a foundation on a hill. And if there were engineered plans, were they adhered to? Was the fndn inspected? This is why we have the permit systems, even if they end up increasing building costs for property owners. In this case it was not used or it failed. A well run & educated plan check / permitting and inspection department is really an assett to any locality. ( no, I'm not a building official either)


I hope you can make the house safe to live in, and re-establish its appraised value within a budget you can afford.

Pete, (building designer, problem solver)

I don't have experience with rocky sites and steep slopes. However, my area does have a lot of movement in the soils. In my experience, foundation movement is directly proportional to the changes in the moisture content of the soils below or adjacent to the affected foundation. The changes come from poor drainage, natural fissues where water flows underground, poorly designed irrigation systems, plumbing leaks or similar point sources.

Maybe none of this applies to this rocky site, however, the 4" to 6" movement of the interior foundation system compared with 2" at the exterior is quite a difference and would point me towards a water problem if the site were in my area. Having to jack the interior every six months would cause me to concentrate my "Why?" investigation in this area.

In any case I agree with the other posters, get some qualified professional help.